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SHORT AMERICAN HI8T0KY 

FOR INTERMEDIATE GRADES 

NAVIGATORS AND EXPLORERS 

EARLY INHABITANTS OF NORTH AMERICA 

THE COLONIES 

TO THE CLOSE OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 



BY 

EVERETT BARNES 



o>Kc 



\ 

GLOBE SCHOOL BOOK COMPANY 
NEW YOKE AND CHICAGO 



\ 



1LIBRARY of W>M 



s'ftssl 
Two Copies Hacdivtsei 

MAR 31 1*03 

litftyriKMi entry ' _ 
£OPY 8.' 



Copyright, 1908, by 
Globe School Book Company. 



MANHATTAN PRESS 

474 WEST BROADWAY 

NEW YORK 



INTRODUCTION 

This book presents a more complete treatment of 
the subjects indicated by its title than is generally 
found in text-books on American History intended 
for use in elementary schools. It fully develops the 
subject-matter required in the fifth year by the present 
Course of Study prescribed for the New York City 
schools. 

As home study is not required and dictation of notes 
is forbidden in the fifth year under that Course of 
Study, the judicious teacher will adapt it to the re- 
quirements of the grade by use in the classroom. The 
core of the work should be the basis of the brief 
treatment that is required. 

I am indebted for helpful suggestions and criti- 
cisms to Superintendent Charles W. Lyon, Mr. Homer 
C. Bristol, Dr. L. H. White, Mr. John W. Rafferty, Mr. 
James A. Bowen, and to other valued friends. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

EARLY PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH DISCOVERIES 
AND EXPLORATIONS 

SECTION PAOE 

1. Early Mediterranean Routes 1 

The Great Question 2 

2. Portugal the First Nation to try to find a New Route . . 3 

The New Question 4 

3. Columbus 5 

The Earth is Round 6 

Columbus forms a Plan 7 

4. Columbus leaves Portugal. Goes to Spain. Hearing at Sala- 

manca 7 

5. Decides to leave Spain 8 

6. Is called Back. Success 11 

7. First Voyage 11 

8. Land Sighted 13 

9. Cuba and Hispaniola 15 

Indian Corn and Tobacco 15 

First Settlement in the New World 16 

10. Return to Spain 16 

11. Other Voyages of Columbus 18 

Second Voyage 19 

Second Settlement in the New World : 20 

First Battle between White Men and Indians ... 20 

Third Voyage 23 

Columbus finds the Continent 23 

The Portuguese reach India by Sea . . . 26 

Fourth Voyage 26 

Hunting for a Way to India 28 

Castaways on the Island of Jamaica 29 

v 



vi CONTENTS 

SECTION PAGE 

Escape 30 

Death of Isabella and Columbus 31 

12. Americus Vespucius, the Florentine 31 

Makes Slaves of Indians . . 34 

13. Juan Ponce de Leon 35 

Seeks the " Fountain of Youth." Finds Florida ... 35 

14. Balboa 37 

Discovers the Pacific Ocean 38 

Death of Balboa 40 

15. Cortes. Exploration and Conquest of Mexico .... 40 

Ordered to Mexico 40 

Troops of Cortes 41 

Hears of the City of Mexico -.43 

First Sight of City of Mexico 45 

The City of Mexico .45 

Montezuma 47 

Coming of Narvaez 49 

Return of Cortes . .50 

Cortes leaves tbe City 51 

Capture of the City .52 

16. Magellan (Ferdinand), 1519-1522 52 

Magellan Starts 55 

Straits of Magellan . .56 

On the Pacific Ocean 56 

Death of Magellan 57 

Into the Atlantic Ocean Again ...... 57 

What the Voyage Proved 58 

17. Pizarro 58 

Pizarro tries to find Peru 60 

Finds Peru 61 

Thelncas . 63 

18. Vasquez de Ayllon 63 

19. Narvaez 64 

Visits Florida 65 

All except Four Perish . . 65 

Wanderings of the Four 66 

20. The Expedition of Coronado 66 

21. Fernando de Soto : Discovery of the Mississippi River . . 68 

Discovers the Mississippi River 68 



CONTENTS 



vn 



CHAPTER II 

THE VOYAGES AND DISCOVERIES OF THE 
ENGLISH, FRENCH, AND DUTCH 

I. English Explorations 



22. 



23. 



24. 



25. 

26. 

27. 
28. 



John and Sebastian Cabot .... 

England begins to Explore . 
Sir Francis Drake 

Drake visits the Pacific Coast of America 

Starts across the Pacific Ocean 

England becomes the Leading Power . 
Sir Walter Raleigh. Roanoke Island 

First English Settlement in America . 

Second English Settlement . 

Raleigh in Prison 



II. French Explorations 



72 

72 
71 
75 
76 

78 
79 
80 
82 
83 



French Voyages of Discovery to the New World ... 84 

John Verrazano 84 

Jacques Cartier 85 

The Huguenots 87 

Samuel Champlain 87 

New France 87 

Attacks the Iroquois Indians 89 



III. Dutch Explorations 



89 



29. The Dutch in the New World : New Netherland 

Henry Hudson 89 

Employed by Holland 90 

Dutch Claims 92 



CHAPTER III 

EARLY INHABITANTS OF AMERICA 

30. The Mound Builders 96 

31. The Pueblo Indians 98 



viii CONTENTS 

SECTION PAGE 

32. The Cliff Dwellers 99 

33. The Aztecs 100 

34. The Indians of North America 102 

35. Mode of Living .103 

Government 104 

Language 106 

Religious Belief 106 

Indian Warfare 107 

Industries 108 

Tribes 110 

CHAPTER IV 
HOW THE SPANISH PEOPLED AMERICA 

40. An Early Start . ..114 

41. Broad Claims of Spain . 114 

42. Spain's Claims Disputed 115 

CHAPTER V 
HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 

43. What France claimed at First 117 

44. Why France did not people the Country Sooner . . . 117 

45. The Fur Business 119 

46. The French made Friends of the Indians . . . . 119 

47. The Algonquins and the Iroquois ...... 121 

48. The Little Fight that changed History 122 

49. Nicolet 125 

50. Marquette and Joliet 127 

51. La Salle 131 

52. The First and Only Voyage of the Griffin 133 

53. Fort Crevecceur 134 

54. La Salle's Second Trial. Reaches Mississippi's Mouth . . 135 

55. La Salle's Third Trial. His Death 137 

56. King William's War " • • • .138 

57. The French on the Gulf of Mexico 140 

58. The French Chain of Forts 1*1 

59. Queen Anne's War ,.,,,.«•• 141 



CONTENTS ix 



CHAPTER VI 
HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 

SECTION PAGE 

Jamestown 144 

Sickness and Death 148 

Smith has an Adventure 148 

The Starving Time . . ' . 152 

Governor Dale 152 

Tobacco 155 

Argall kidnaps Pocahontas 155 

Marriage of Pocahontas. Her Death in England . . .157 

Better Times 157 

Government by the People 158 

Prosperity 158 

Slavery 159 

The London Company loses its Charter 160 

Royal Governors . 161 

Death of King Charles I 162 

The Coming of the Cavaliers 163 

The Puritans leave Virginia . 163 

The Time of the Commonwealth in England .... 164 

Charles II 164 

Trouble with the Indians 167 

Bacon's Rebellion 171 

Country and Climate 172 

CHAPTER VII 
NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY 

82. The Hudson River 175 

The Coming of the Dutch 175 

83. A Dutch Settlement 175 

84. Dutch Treaty with the Iroquois ....... 176 

85. Importance of the Hudson River 177 

86. Long Island Sound and Connecticut River .... 178 

87. The Dutch West India Company 179 

88. Peter Minuit buys Manhattan Island . . • . . . .180 

89. The Patroons 181 



x CONTENTS 

SECTION PAGE 

90. War with Indians 183 

91. Free Religion 186 

92. New Netherland takes New Sweden * 187 

93. England takes New Netherland . . . . . 188 

94. New York 189 

95. New Jersey 192 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 

96. The Kennebec River Settlement 196 

97. Smith explores the New England Coast 197 

98. The Puritans 198 

99. The Separatists 199 

100. The Pilgrims go to America 202 

101. Treaty with the Indians 203 

102. The Pilgrims Work and Prosper 204 

103. Puritans settle Salem. Massachusetts Bay Company . . 205 

104. Boston 206 

105. The General Court ,209 

106. Business 209 

107. Connecticut 210 

108. Roger Williams ; Rhode Island 211 

109. Slave Ships . 214 

110. Maine and New Hampshire . V 214 

111. Education in New England . . . . . . . 215 

112. The Pequot War . . .215 

113. The New England Confederation . . . . . .219 

114. The Navigation Laws .221 

115. Other Bad Laws .222 

116. When New Netherland became New York .... 223 

117. King Philip's War • . . .223 

118. Massachusetts loses its Charter 235 

119. James II and Andros 236 



CONTENTS xi 



CHAPTER IX 

THE ENGLISH IN MARYLAND AND OTHER 
COLONIES 

SECTION PAGE 

120. Lord Baltimore ; his Newfoundland Colony .... 241 

121. An English Catholic Colony 242 

122. Settlement of Maryland 244 

123. Claiborne's Rebellion 246 

124. Maryland a Royal Province 246 

125. The English in Pennsylvania; the Quakers .... 247 

126. William Penn 248 

127. Pennsylvania 250 

128. Philadelphia 252 

129. Germans come to Pennsylvania 253 

130. Trouble with the New King 254 

131. The English in Delaware 254 

132. The English in the Carolinas 256 

133. Duke of Albemarle . . 256 

134. The Model Government 258 

135. Charleston 258 

136. The Pine Forest 259 

137. Rice, Indigo, and Cotton 260 

138. The English in Georgia 261 

139. Need of a New Colony 262 

140. Oglethorpe 262 

141. Savannah 263 

142. Making of Silk 264 

143. Trouble with the Spaniards 265 

144. Slavery 265 



CHAPTER X 
ENGLISH AMERICA AND HOW IT WAS HELD 

145. Early English Settlers kept to the Coast 267 

146. King William's War 269 

147. Queen Anne's War 270 

148. King George's War 271 



xii CONTENTS 

SECTION PAGE 

149. English America at Close of King George's War . . . 274 

Industries 275 

Slaves 276 

Clothing . 276 

Heating and Cooking 277 

Houses 278 

Religion 279 

Education 279 

150. The French prepare for War 280 

151. The English begin to take the Ohio Valley . . . .281 

152. The French and Indian War .284 

153. Franklin tries to form a Union 286 

154. Braddock's Defeat 290 

155. Johnson's Victory at Lake George . . . .. . 293 

156. Defeat at Ticonderoga 298 

157. Battle of Quebec 299 

158. Pontiac's War 302 



BARNES'S SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

FOR 

INTERMEDIATE GRADES 

CHAPTER I 

EARLY PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH DISCOVERIES AND 
EXPLORATIONS 

i. Early Mediterranean Trade Routes. 

Five hundred years ago Europe was the home of the 
white race, as it always had been. Except parts of 
Africa, where the black race dwelt, and of Asia, home 
of the yellow and the brown races, the white race knew 
nothing of the world outside of Europe. 

Asia lay to the. east of Europe, and with its people the 
Europeans traded. They had little or no trade with the 
Africans. To the west lay the Atlantic Ocean which, so 
far as they knew, had no end. 

To carry goods to Asia, or the East, as it was known in 
Europe, small ships called caravels were used. These 
sailed from ports in the Mediterranean Sea mainly, and 
most of them from Venice and Genoa in Italy. They 
went eastward as far as ships could go, some to Alex- 
andria, and some to the Black Sea, 



SHORT. AMERICAN HISTORY 



The Great Question. 

From these points the goods borne by the ships were 
sent forward on the backs of camels. A number of 
camels with their drivers traveling together were called 

a caravan. The cara- 
vans with goods from 
the East met these 
ships and returned 
overland to ports in 
the Red Sea and the 
Persian Gulf with 
goods from the West. 
Thence the goods 
were sent in vessels to 
India, by way of the 
Indian Ocean. Ow- 
ing to these loadings 
and unloadings, trad- 
ing . trips were very 
slow and tiresome as 
well as very costly. 
But this was not the worst trouble. The Turks lived 
along these land routes. They were Mahometans, while 
the white traders of Europe were Christians, and between 
the followers of the two religions there was war most of 
the time. Because of this, it was very dangerous to 
go by caravan through the Turkish country. 
The great question to the merchants of Europe was, 




A Caravel 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 3 

" How can we get to India and back without passing 
through the land of the Turks ? " 

2. Portugal the First Nation to try to find a New Route. 

Portugal, a country of Europe fronting on the Atlantic, 
was at this time the home of many hardy and brave sailors. 
For many years these sailors tried to find a way to India 
by going around the southern point of Africa, wherever it 
might be, then known as " The Cape of Storms." 

The son of a king of Portugal, " Prince Henry the 
Navigator," again and again sent ships south along the 
west coast of Africa to try to find the way around its 
southern end into the Indian Ocean. He believed that, 
with his ships once on that ocean, the course to India 
would be easy. Each year brave Portuguese sailors went 
a little farther than they had gone before. 

But it was not until 1487 that one of them succeeded 
in sailing around the " Cape of Storms " into the Indian 
Ocean. This voyage was made by Bar-thol-o-mew 
Diaz (de'-ath). While sailing along the western shore 
of Africa, he was driven south by a great storm. 
When the wind died away and the sea grew calm, he 
sailed to the east, thinking to come in sight of the 
land again. 

But the storm had carried his three little caravels so 
far to the south that when he turned east he sailed by 
the " Cape of Storms " and found that he was in the In- 
dian Ocean. Turning now to the north, he passed along 



4 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

the east coast of Africa for about six hundred miles. His 
little ships were far from home now. Being afraid of 
shipwreck from another sudden storm, and worn out with 
work, the tired sailors refused to go farther. Diaz 
yielded to them and started back. Sailing south, he 
rounded the " Cape of Storms " and bore to the north for 
home. He reached Portugal about Christmas, 1487. 

King John of Portugal was overjoyed when he learned 
that Diaz had sailed around the " Cape of Storms." 
" We will call it the Cape of Storms no more," he said, 
"but the Cape of Good Hope; for we are in good hope 
that we have at last found an ocean route to India." 

The New Question. 

But the route was twelve thousand miles long, too long 
to be useful. Now the question for the merchants of 
Europe was, " Can a shorter sea route than this one 
around Africa be found?" 

We must admire the bravery of the early Portuguese 
sailors. They made their way into unknown and stormy 
seas in their caravels, some of which were without a deck, 
and most of them unfit for rough service. In stormy 
weather it took great courage and the best of skill to keep 
them from going to the bottom. The common sailors of 
that day were ignorant and were much given to foolish 
fears and fancies. They believed in tales of horrid sea 
monsters and strange and terrible creatures supposed to 
live in unknown lands, where their ships might be cast 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 5 

away. The captain was indeed brave who would put to 
sea in such vessels with such sailors in search of countries 
never visited by man. 




Christopher ColOmbub 
In the Mariue Museum at Madrid. Unknown artist 

3. Columbus. 

Others than the wise men of Portugal were studying the 
question of a short water route to India. Among them 



6 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

was Christopher Columbus, who was born in or near 
Genoa, a city of Italy, about 1436. When he was four- 
teen years old, he began to sail in the trading ships of 
the Mediterranean. In this way, while yet young, 
he became skillful in the art of sailing the small vessels 
of those days. 

But he also found time to study, and, among other 
things, learned Latin and geography. He studied the 
heavens so that he knew where to look, at night, for the 
stars that might guide him on his course. He also became 
skillful in drawing maps. 

When he grew older, he made much longer voyages, 
some of which were along the west coast of Africa. In 
the year 1477 he visited an island called Iceland in the 
northern part of the Atlantic Ocean. 

The Earth is Round. 

Columbus, like many other learned men of his time, 
came to believe that the earth was round like a ball. He 
therefore thought that by sailing due west across the 
Atlantic Ocean, he could reach the shores of India. He 
thought that the earth was much smaller than it really is, 
and that India reached much farther around it than it 
really does. He said that the way across the Atlantic 
must be a short one. That there might be another land 
body between the western shores of Europe and the east- 
ern coast of India did not come into his mind. 

When he was about thirty-five years old he went 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 7 

to Lisbon, a city of Portugal. There he got some rare 
maps which had belonged to his father-in-law, who, when 
living, had been a skillful sailor. 

Columbus forms a Plan. 

His study of these strengthened his belief. He formed 
a plan to search for India by sailing west. But, being 
without money, unless some one would furnish him with 
men and ships, he could not cany it out. He went to 
King John of Portugal first for aid. The king listened 
to him and turned the matter over to a council made up 
of his wisest and most learned subjects. By their advice, 
he refused help and Columbus went away. That refusal 
cost Portugal the glory and profit of finding a new world. 

The king was dishonest. He refused to aid Columbus, 
but followed the plan Columbus gave him. He sent a ves- 
sel of his own to find India. It sailed to the Cape Verde 
Islands and thence westward, on the course which Colum- 
bus had said was the right one. It followed this course 
for several days, but, meeting stormy weather, the sailors 
became frightened and gave up. They returned to Lisbon 
and said that the plan of Columbus was all wrong, and 
that there could be no land in that terrible waste of waters. 

4. Columbus leaves Portugal. Goes to Spain. Hearing 
at Salamanca. 

Angry at the trickery of the king, Columbus left Lisbon 
for Spain about the year 1484. He took with him his 
little son, Diego (de-a'-go), and left him for a while with 



8 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

the boy's aunt who lived near Palos. Columbus now 
began a struggle to get aid in Spain, which was to last 
for more than seven years. 

After spending two years in following the king and 
queen from place to place, trying to get them to listen to 
his story, he at last got a hearing. They told him to 
appear at Salamanca, before some of the most learned 
men in Spain, and set forth his plans. Columbus did so, 
but his success was small. Only a few of these wise men 
thought as he did. 

This was not a good time for the king and queen to help 
Columbus, because Christian Spain was then fighting 
to drive out the Mahometan Moors who long ago had 
come over from Africa to Spain to try to rule that 
country. The war had been costly, and the money 
could not be spared. In refusing him aid, at this time, 
the king and queen gave as a reason the lack of money; 
but perhaps the real reason was that the wise men of 
Salamanca had said to them that the plans of Columbus 
were wild and foolish. 

5. Decides to leave Spain. 

After five years had passed away, Columbus tried again 
to get help from Isabella, who was then queen of Spain, 
but he failed. Disappointed but stout-hearted, he de- 
cided to quit Spain and apply for aid elsewhere. He 
went to the little village near Palos to get his son whom 
he had left there seven years before with his aunt. After 



10 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



leaving Palos, Columbus and Diego ; now a lad of twelve, 
stopped at a convent near by to beg for food. 

Here he spoke of his plans and hopes with the good 
priest who had received him kindly. This priest, who 




Painting by E. Becquer. 



Queen Isabella 



had been the confessor of Queen Isabella, got for him 
another hearing with the king and queen. But it ended 
as before, and Columbus now resolved to apply to 
France for aid. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 11 

6. Is called Back. Success. 

He had set out for France on mule-back, when a 
messenger from Isabella overtook him with an order to 
return. She had made up her mind to help him. 
Obeying her order, Columbus went back at once. Plans 
were then made to give him the ships and men needful 




Drawing by II. Lungren. 

Columbus recalled by the Queen 

for his voyage. After years of disappointment, his cour- 
age and perseverance had won success. His story shows 
how steadfast purpose may overcome poverty and ridicule. 

7. First Voyage. 

Columbus had great trouble in getting his ships and 
crews together. Men were afraid to go on a voyage so full 



12 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

of dangers, which were the more dreadful because they 
were unknown. But at length three small vessels were 
made ready, the Santa Maria (San-ta Ma-re'-a), 
Pinta, and Nina (neen'-yah). These vessels were hardly 
seaworthy, the Santa Maria, the ship in which the com- 
mander was to sail, being the only one which was fully 
decked over. 

The three little ships, manned by about a hundred and 
twenty sailors in all, set out from the harbor of Palos on 
the morning of Friday, Aug. 3, 1492, and sailed south- 
west, bound for the Canary Islands, whence they 
were to sail west over the unknown sea. This was the 
first stage of the voyage. Some time was spent there 
in making repairs to one of the vessels. Then the 
little fleet sailed boldly westward, out into the " Sea of 
Darkness." 

All went well for a while. But, as the days passed and 
the distance from home grew greater, the fears of the 
sailors began to overcome them and their courage gave 
way to terror. Ignorance as to where they were and 
how far they might have yet to sail added to their fright. 
Many of them, believing that the earth was flat, thought 
that they must be drawing near to the edge of the ocean, 
where they would surely fall off. 

Columbus did all that he could to cheer his men. He 
made fun of their foolish fears. At one time, however, 
they would not obey him and even told him that they 
would throw him into the sea. This state of things had 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



13 




Drawing by II. Lungren. 

The Mutiny on Board toe "Santa Maria" 
Columbus arguing with his mutiuous crew 

been going on for a month, when signs of land were seen. 
A branch of a tree floated by one of the vessels, and a 
carved stick was picked up from the water by one of the 
sailors. A flock of land birds was seen flying to the 
southwest. All knew by these signs that land was near. 
Believing that the birds were flying toward land, 
Columbus turned his course to follow them. 



8. Land Sighted. 

On the evening of Oct. 11, 1492, the watchful com- 
mander saw in the west what seemed to be a moving light. 



14 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



At the same time he heard the cry of " Land ! " from the 
other ships. All waited without thought of sleep for 
what the break of day was to show. It had been over 
two months now since they had left Spain, and every day 
had been a time of danger and dread. As the sun rose, 
October 12, they saw before them a green and low-lying 




Cakavels of Columbus 

island. Columbus landed and, claiming the island for 
Spain, named it San Salvador, the Spanish words for 
Holy Saviour. It is one of the group we know as the 
Bahamas, and was called by the natives Guanahani 
(gw a-n a-h a'-nee) . 
The natives were unlike any people that the newcomers 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 15 

had ever seen. They were tall and graceful, and of a 
brown or cinnamon-colored complexion. They were 
peaceful and kind. As Columbus thought that he had 
come to India, he called these natives Indians. The 
islands that he found in this part of the world he called 
the Indies for the same reason. The Indians had gold 
made into trinkets. The Spaniards, always hoping to 
find gold, asked them by signs where they got it. They 
pointed to the south. 

9. Cuba and Hispaniola. 

Columbus, departing, sailed southward in search of the 
land of gold. He soon reached the island which the 
Indians called Cuba. Some of the men landed and made 
several journeys back from the coast. 

Indian Corn and Tobacco. 

They found that the country was beautiful, and 
learned that the natives grew two strange plants, maize 
and tobacco. This was the first time that white men 
ever saw Maize or Indian Corn, or Tobacco. The 
natives raised and made use of cotton. 

Columbus thought that this island must be the main- 
land of Asia, and wondered that he did not see the great 
and rich cities of which he had read. 

He also sailed easterly along the coast of another island, 
that which we know as Hayti, but which he called His- 
paniola, or " Spanish Land." Here, on Christmas Day, 
his largest and best ship, the Santa Maria, was wrecked. 



16 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

First Settlement in the New World. 

He left forty of his men on the north coast of this 
island to found a settlement. This little settlement was 
called The Nativity, or in Spanish, La Navidad. 

10. Return to Spain. 

Pinzon, the captain of the Pinta, had run away with her 
and started for home, and Columbus had only one ship 
now, the Nina. Taking leave of the little settle- 
ment on Hispaniola, he set the Nina's sails for Spain early 
in 1493. On the way he came up with the Pinta, and the 
two little caravels sailed together until they were separated 
by a storm. They did not meet again until they reached 
the harbor of Palos. 

While this storm was raging Columbus, fearing that his 
vessel and all hands would be lost, sealed in a cask an 
account of his discoveries. He did this in the hope that, 
if he were shipwrecked, the cask might some time be found 
and the news of his discovery thus become known to the 
world. 

His little vessel ran into another storm near the coast 
of Portugal and he was driven to make harbor at Lisbon. 
The news of his arrival and of the success of his journey 
at once spread among the Portuguese. They were 
jealous because the great discovery was not made by 
some of their people, and it is said that a plot was formed 
there to murder Columbus. 

He soon left Lisbon and arrived in Palos, March 15, 



18 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

1493. The Pinta came into the harbor on the evening of 
the same day. Pinzon made an attempt to claim the 
honors which rightfully belonged to Columbus, but he 
was treated with the contempt that he deserved. A few 
days later he died. 

The news of the return of Columbus caused wild excite- 
ment and great rejoicing. Through him Spain claimed 
the honor of finding a new route to India. He was greeted 
everywhere with rejoicing. No longer a poor, ragged 
beggar for help, he was now the king's admiral. 

The Indians that he brought with him were looked upon 
with wonder. So were the strange birds, the unknown 
plants, the gold ornaments, and the queer tools and rude 
weapons which he had brought from the lands he had 
found. He went to Barcelona, where the king and queen 
were staying at the time. Crowds of people cheered him 
on his way. There he was received by the king and queen 
with the greatest honors. 

Columbus supposed that the island of Cuba was the 
mainland of China and that Hispaniola was Japan. 
Thinking that he was right, the Spanish people felt sure 
that they had a much shorter way to India than that of 
the Portuguese around the southern point of Africa. 

ii. Other Voyages of Columbus. 

Columbus made three more voyages across the Atlantic 
on the last two of which he visited the mainland of both 
South and Central America. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 19 

He found no difficulty in procuring ships and sailors for 
his second voyage. The " Sea of Darkness " had been 
crossed. Its waste of water was no longer terrible to 
Spanish sailors. They now desired to learn more about 
this new-found land where the far West and the far East 
came together. They felt that further search would 
surely lead to the rich cities of China and India, where 
gold, spices, silks, and precious stones were plentiful. 

Second Voyage. 

Columbus left Cadiz on his second voyage in Septem- 
ber, 1493. He commanded a fleet of three large ships 
and fourteen caravels, carrying fifteen hundred men. 

Among those who sailed with the great admiral on this 
voyage were his brother Diego and Juan Ponce de Leon 
(hwan pon'-tha da la- one'). De Leon afterward made 
two voyages of his own to the shores of the new country, 
sailing from the islands Columbus had found, and we 
shall soon read more about him. 

After touching at the Canaiy Islands, the fleet set forth 
on its westerly course. Land was first seen early in 
November. This was a small island southeast of the 
present island of Porto Rico, and the Spaniards gave it 
the name Dominica. Shaping their course to the north- 
west and passing other small islands, they landed at 
Porto Rico. The natives of these islands were much more 
fierce and warlike than those of the islands of Cuba and 
Hispaniola. They fought fiercely to prevent the landing 



20 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

of the strange visitors, and in the battles that followed 
some of the Spaniards were killed. These Indians were 
cannibals ; that is, they ate human flesh. 

Leaving Porto Rico, Columbus went to visit the little 
colony of La Navidad that he had founded the year before 
on the north coast of the island of Hispaniola. The fort 
was in ruins and not one of the forty men he had left there 
was to be found. They had all been killed by the natives, 
with whom they had foolishly quarreled. 

Second Settlement. 

Moving farther to the east along this shore, the Span- 
iards built another settlement, which they named Isabella 
in honor of the queen. From here Columbus started 
with a body of armed men to explore the country in the 
middle of the island. He found that the natives lived in 
villages and that they also grew maize, or Indian corn. 
Gold was discovered and some of it was sent back to 
Spain. 

First Battle between White Men and Indians. 

Early the next year (1494) Columbus set out from Isa- 
bella in search of what he thought would be the mainland 
of Asia. He sailed west with three caravels and, chang- 
ing his course after a time, reached the south coast of 
Cuba. A little later, while in these waters, he came to 
the island which the natives called Jamaica. When the 
Spaniards landed on this island, they were met with a 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



21 



storm of arrows and javelins. But the Indians, who could 
not long withstand the Spaniards, fled. 
Columbus was greatly pleased with the beauty of this 




Painting by E. Becqtu 



Kino Ferdinand 



island, but since those who lived there were savage 
enemies, he thought it best to keep away from it. So 
he sailed to the southern coast of Cuba, which he fol- 
lowed nearly to the west end of the island. He thought 



22 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

that if he only held this course long enough he would 
reach the Indian Ocean from the northeast, which the 
Portuguese reached from the west, and, passing around 
the Cape of Good Hope, could return to Spain. He did 
not know that our continent and. the great Pacific Ocean 
lay between him and India. 

His men refusing to go further he decided to go 
back to Hispaniola. 

On the way he sailed along the southern coasts of 
Jamaica and Hispaniola. When he reached Isabella, he 
found that the colonists he had left there under the com- 
mand of his brother Diego had been fighting all the time 
with the natives. So he made his brother Bartholomew, 
who had lately come from Spain, governor of the island. 

This did not quiet matters much, for it must be 
remembered that Columbus as well as his two brothers 
were Italians, and were not liked by the other colonists, 
who, being Spaniards, were jealous of them. 

While Columbus was away sailing along the coasts of 
Cuba and Jamaica, some of his enemies returned to Spain. 
There they went to the king and queen and said that 
Columbus and his two brothers cruelly treated the natives, 
even making slaves of them. Columbus hearing of these 
false stories, returned to Spain to meet his enemies. He 
left Hispaniola in March, 1496. The voyage home was 
slow, provisions ran short, and the crews in the two cara- 
vels were almost starved. 

After having been away from Spain for nearly three 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 23 

years Columbus at last reached Cadiz in June, 1496. He 
was kindly received by the king and queen. They did not 
believe the evil things told to them by his enemies and 
promised to furnish him ships and men for a third voyage. 
Shortly after Columbus had left Hispaniola, his brother 
Bartholomew founded San Domingo on the south coast 
of that island. 

Third Voyage. 

After, waiting nearly two years in Spain, the great dis- 
coverer received the promised aid and started on his third 
voyage in May, 1498. This time he had six ships. Stop- 
ping, as usual, at the Canaiy Islands, Columbus ordered 
that three of his ships sail for Hispaniola. With the other 
three, the great admiral sailed in a southerly direction to 
the Cape Verde Islands. Leaving these islands and steer- 
ing a southwesterly course, he crossed the Atlantic. By 
sailing westerly in this direction, on a course so far to the 
south, he thought that he might clear the coast of Cuba, 
which he still believed to be the mainland of China, 
and sail directly into the Indian Ocean. If he could only 
do this, Spain would share with Portugal the rich trade of 
India, and by a shorter route. 

Columbus finds the Continent. 

He reached the island of Trinidad, at the mouth of the 
Orinoco river on the coast of what is now known as 
South America, about August 1st. From the length 
and the nature of the coast Columbus knew that 



24 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

at last he had found the mainland of a continent. 
This, he thought, must be Asia, and he believed 
that, somewhere, there must be a strait through 
which he could pass to the Indian Ocean. He sailed 
westerly along the north coast of the continent, for about 
two hundred miles. From the number of pearls he 
found along its shores, he called it the Pearl Coast. 
But he did not find the strait for which he was looking. 
Disappointed at this and weary and sick from labor and 
care, he started for Hispaniola and reached San Domingo 
in August, 1498. 

He had not been there for more than two years, and he 
found that while he was away there had been much 
trouble. Some of the Spanish settlers on that island 
had joined the natives and were trying to overthrow the 
rule of Columbus's brother Bartholomew, the governor of 
the island. Two years were now spent in Hispaniola by 
Columbus and his brothers in putting an end to the 
troubles that had arisen there. 

While this was going on, the enemies of Columbus in 
Spain had again been setting the minds of the king and 
queen against him. They urged the rulers of that 
country to send out a new governor. In the summer 
of 1500, Bobadilla was sent to take command of 
Hispaniola. On his arrival, he arrested Columbus 
and his two brothers and threw them into prison. 
The Teason he gave to the king and queen for doing this 
was that Columbus had made slaves of the natives and 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



25 



was trying to set up a government of his own. Upon this 
false charge Columbus and his brothers were placed on 
shipboard, in chains, and sent to Spain. 

With his chains still upon him, Columbus arrived in 
Cadiz. But the good Queen Isabella, shocked at the 




Painting by Mareclial— Salon of 1857. 

Columbus in Chains being taken back to Spain 

news and angry at the treatment of Columbus, ordered 
that he be set free and brought to her. When he saw his 
queen, Columbus, now an old man, burst into tears. The 
charges against him were dismissed and he was promised 
further favor. 



26 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



The Portuguese reach India by Sea. 

While Columbus was away on his third voyage, the 
Portuguese were not idle. Vasco da Gama made a voy- 
age to India and back by 
way of the Cape of Good 
Hope. He was the first 
to find India by sailing 
around Africa. 

Starting in 1497, Da 
Gama returned to Lis- 
bon after an absence of 
two years and told won- 
derful stories of the 
strange land he had 
visited. He brought 
home spices, ivory, pre- 
cious stones, and silks. 
This success of Portu- 
gal, in finally reaching 
India by her chosen 
route, led to the fourth voyage of Columbus. 

Fourth Voyage. 

Columbus left Cadiz, on this last venture, in May, 1502, 
in command of four caravels and one hundred and fifty 
men. As a new governor had been sent to Hispaniola 
early in the year, Columbus was forbidden to land there. 
It was feared that his presence might stir up more trouble. 




After the portrait preserved by the Counts of Vidi- 
gueira, descendants of the navigator. 

Vasco da Gama 




27 



28 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

He did, however, after his outward voyage, enter the 
harbor of San Domingo in June. His purpose was to 
procure another caravel, for one of his boats had become 
unseaworthy. The new governor ordered Columbus to 
depart from the harbor. The great admiral, angry and 
grieved at such treatment, sailed away to the southwest 
and came to anchor on the coast of the country we now 
call Honduras. 

Hunting for a Way to India. 

He spent the fall of the year 1502 in coasting along the 
shores of that country, first to the east and then to the 
south. He sailed for more than seven hundred miles, 
looking for a strait, which he thought should be there, 
through which he might pass to ^he Indian Ocean. The 
natives had told him by signs that to the south was a 
" narrow way," which would bring him to a large ocean 
on the west coast. They meant the narrow isthmus ot 
Darien, and not a strait. But Columbus, thinking that he 
was on the coast of Asia, believed that he might "round'' 
the Malay peninsula and enter the Strait of Malacca. 

In his journey along the coast of the country we now 
call Central America, Columbus found people who were not 
so savage as those on the islands he had seen on his first 
two voyages. They had better weapons and were skilled 
in the arts of making pottery and weaving cotton cloth. 
He found stone houses there. Upon the walls of some of 
them were curious carvings and rude pictures. The 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



29 



natives told Columbus that there was much gold in this 
new country and showed him many ornaments made of 
the precious metal. 

In many places along the coast the Indians attacked 
the Spaniards,, a few of whom they killed in these battles. 
Columbus and his men at last began to suffer from lack of 




Drawing by H. Lnngren. 
Columbus sends an Expedition to Hisiaxiola to ask fok Succob 

food, and he bore away for Hispaniola. Sailing to the north, 
the fleet was driven westerly and land was first sighted 
on the south coast of Cuba, north of the island of Jamaica. 

Castaways on the Island of Jamaica. 

Here the vessels were badly damaged by a severe storm, 
but they held out until Jamaica was reached. The ships 



30 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 




Land discovered by Columbus 
u •' " Balboa 



Columbus' Explorations 

were then leaking -badly and could be sailed no farther. 
They were drawn on land, and a fort was made of their 
timbers, in which the shipwrecked men had shelter from 
wind and weather. 

Escape. 

And so Columbus and his crews found themselves 
castaways on the coast of Jamaica. Two of the bravest 
men, with some natives and other Spaniards, went to the 
island of Hispaniola for help. Their boat was only a 
frail canoe, but they succeeded, and reaching that island, 
made their way to the town of San Domingo. They 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 31 

told the governor that Columbus was shipwrecked, and 
where he was, but no help was sent to him for a year. 

During this time, Columbus had to deal, not only with 
fights among his own men, but with starvation. The 
unruly sailors were brought to terms by his brother Bar- 
tholomew. It was a time of great danger for Colum- 
bus, when the governor of Hispaniola at last sent two 
caravels to Jamaica, which carried the shipwrecked men 
to San Domingo. 

Death of Isabella and Columbus. 

Fast aging from his labors and hardships and sorrowing 
at the treatment he had received, Columbus returned to 
Spain, reaching there in November, 1504. His best 
friend, the good Queen Isabella, died a few days after his 
return, and he suffered all the pains of neglect, poverty, 
and sickness. This was a poor return for all that he 
had done for Spain. He died in May, 1506, when about 
seventy years of age. To the day of his death, he 
thought that the mainland he had twice visited was the 
coast of Asia. 

12. Americus Vespucius, the Florentine. 

When Christopher Columbus was about sixteen years 
old, another Italian boy was born, who was to be famous 
in the story of America. Florence, a city about one hun- 
dred and fifty miles from Genoa, was his birthplace. His 
name was Americus Vespucius, or, as it was called in 



32 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



Italian, Amerigo Vespucci (am-er-e'-go ves-pootch'-ee). 
He was of good family and when a young man worked for 
one of the leading merchants of his native city. 

When older, he visited Spain and made a business of 
shipbuilding and of the furnishing of supplies for ships 
that were about to sail on voyages of discovery. This led 
to his -knowing Columbus and other navigators. He 




x 



SBr- Ik ••' . \ ■■-> 

«»"• * \ .....:.t..i.:.. v^^^K. >c~i~ ■ 



, : 



Americds Vespucius (Amerigo Vespucci) 
Unknown Source 

liked to listen to tales of the sea, and to stories of adven- 
ture in strange lands. He had received a fair education 
and was skillful in telling in what part of the sea the 
ship was, on which he was sailing. Being an earnest 
student of geography and fond of making maps, he 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



33 



ATLANTIC 



OCEAN 




OCEAN 



was able to show pilots 
in what direction to lay 
their course. Thus his 
services were helpful to 
ship captains who were 
going forth to sail in 
strange seas. 

In all, he made six voy- 
ages, and visited the 
coasts of North, Central, 
and South America. In 
the stories of his first and 
third voyages, which he 
wrote, he tells that King 
Ferdinand of Spain sent 
him on his first voyage in 1497, with four ships from Cadiz. 
From what he says of this voyage it appears that he first 
landed on the coast of Honduras in the summer of 1497. 
He was, perhaps, the first white man to set foot on the 
mainland of this continent, for, as we have learned, Colum- 
bus did not reach the mouth of the Orinoco until 1498. 

It is said that from Honduras, Vespucius sailed along 
the bend of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Passing 
between Cuba and Florida, he went northerly, following 
the coast of the present United States, perhaps as far as 
Chesapeake Bay. 

The natives along the coast were friendly, and when he 
left for Cadiz, a few of them went with him as guides. 



Vespucius' Explorations 



34 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

They went as far as the Bermuda Islands, six hundred 
miles to the east of our coast. 

Makes Slaves of Indians. 

Here, as the story goes, the Spaniards had a fierce 
fight with the island natives, who were not only hostile, 
but were cannibals. Vespucius and his men captured 
over two hundred of these poor savages and carried them 
as slaves to Spain, where they arrived in 1498, having 
been gone about eighteen months. 

About seven months later, in 1499, Vespucius began his 
second voyage, again sailing for Spain. This time he 
reached the northern Brazil coast of South America, 
which he followed northwesterly as far as Lake Maracaibo 
in the western part of the country we now call Venezuela. 

His third and fourth voyages were made in the service 
of King Emanuel of Portugal. The third (1501-1502) was 
the most important one of all, for in this he sailed his 
three little vessels southerly along the coast of South 
America. Leaving the coast he turned his course to the 
southeast and went as far as the cold waters of the 
Antarctic Ocean, whence he was driven back by floating 
ice. He knew from the vast extent of the coast, that this 
land body was a great continent. 

On his fourth voyage, 1503-1504, Vespucius sailed along 
the coast of what is now Brazil, but only about as far as 
the present city of Rio Janeiro. 

On his last two voyages, made in the years 1505 and 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 35 

1507, he was again in the service of Spain and explored 
the coast of Darien in Central America. 

The name America, in honor of Americus Vespucius, 
was first given to Brazil and later to the whole of the 
great western land mass. 

Spain and Portugal owe much to the untiring efforts of 
Columbus and Vespucius, in their service, yet to Italy 
belongs the honor of being the country of their birth. 

13. Juan Ponce de Leon. 

Ponce de Leon, a Spaniard, was a companion of Colum- 
bus on one of his voyages to the Indies. He had been a 
brave soldier in the wars with the Mahometan Moors, who 
coming from Africa had for centuries overrun Spain. 

When De Leon reached the Indies, he was placed in 
command of the Spanish soldiers at San Domingo, in the 
eastern part of the island of Hispaniola. From this place 
he made several journeys. He went to Porto Rico, and 
was told by the Indians of that island that gold could be 
found in its mountains. At a later time he made war 
against these natives and conquered them, though they 
resisted with all their might. Having been made gov- 
ernor of Porto Rico, he treated the helpless natives with 
great cruelty, even hunting them with bloodhounds 
when they ran away from him. 

Seeks the "Fountain of Youth." Finds Florida. 
It was said that there was a wonderful spring or foun- 
tain in one of the neighboring islands to the north. By 



36 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



bathing in this spring, so the story went, or by drink- 
ing of its waters, old men could become young again. 
In the year 1513 Ponce, who found himself getting 
old and feeble, sailed north from Porto Rico in 
search of this spring. Sailing to the northwest, he 
came to a beautiful shore that was fragrant with the 




Landing op Ponce de Leon at Florida 

odor of flowers. He landed on Easter Sunday near the 
present town of St. Augustine, and called the beautiful 
land Florida. The natives were more warlike than those 
of Porto Rico, and they eveiy where resisted his efforts to 
explore their country. 

Of springs there were many ; but none had the magic 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 37 

power of giving to white hair its former color or of 
washing away the wrinkles of age, or yet of changing 
the weakness of the old to the strength of the young. In 
searching for the fountain, the old man found a beautiful 
peninsula for Spain, though at the time he supposed it 
to be an island. 

After returning to Porto Rico, he went to Spain and 
reported his discovery. This so pleased his royal master, 
that he appointed De Leon governor of the land that he 
had found for him. 

When he came back to Porto Rico, he was told of the 
successful ventures, in Central America and Mexico, of 
two other Spaniards, Balboa and Cortes. He believed 
that the delightful country which he had discovered was 
as rich in gold as those that they had found, and in 1521 
he sailed again to Florida. He took with him a large force 
of well-armed men and a number of horses. But the na- 
tives fought him and checked his advance into their 
country, and in one of the battles he was wounded by an 
arrow. The wound caused his death in Cuba, a few 
months later. 

14. Balboa (vasco nunez (noon'-yeth) da bal-bo'a). 

There was a young Spaniard of good family who had 
left Spain because he was in debt and threatened with 
imprisonment, and who, at San Domingo, got into more 
trouble of the same kind. His name was Balboa. About 
this time (1509), preparations were being made in His- 



38 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

paniola for a visit -of discovery to Central America. 
Balboa wished to go, so as to get away from those to 
whom he owed money. He hid in one of the ships until 
it was well out at sea. It is said that he was carried 
aboard the ship, hidden in a large barrel. 

As soon as he thought it safe, he came out of his 
hiding place. The captain of the ship was very angry 
at the trick, but afterwards his anger cooled and he 
treated Balboa fairly well. When the ships arrived at the 
Isthmus of Darien, Balboa managed to place himself at 
the head of the company, and became very active in ex- 
ploring the country. For two or three years he busied 
himself in this way and in making friends with the natives. 

Discovers the Pacific Ocean. 

Being told that beyond the mountains, to the west, there 
was an ocean, and that much gold could be found along 
its shores, he set out with about two hundred men, to see 
if the story was true. After a time they came to a great 
mountain up which he went alone. When he reached the 
top, he saw the largest and grandest ocean in the world. 

The first white man to behold it, he named this vast 
water the South Sea. It was what we now call the Pacific 
Ocean. Four days afterward Balboa reached this won- 
derful sea. He waded into it and, with drawn sword, 
declared that it belonged, by right of discovery, to the 
king of Spain. This happened in September, 1513. 

Soon after landing at Darien, the captain of the ship in 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



39 



which Balboa hid returned to Spain, where he made charges 

against Balboa. The king thereupon sent several vessels 

with a man in 

command who was 

to be governor of 

Darien. 

Balboa had 
treated the na- 
tives kindly. The 
new governor, a 
cruel old man 
named Pedrarias, 
was very harsh 
towards them. He 
was also very se- 
vere in his treat- 
ment of his own 
soldiers. Balboa 
complained of this 
in a letter to the 

kin°" of Spain. Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean 

This caused bitter feeling against Balboa on the part 
of the governor. But the quarrel between them was 
patched up for a while. 

Balboa was a very active man and did not long re- 
main idle. He took the remaining ships of the fleet to 
pieces and carried them timber by timber across the 
isthmus and, putting them together again, launched them 




40 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

on the waters of the " South Sea." These were the first 
vessels built by Europeans to float on the waters of the 
greatest ocean of the earth. 

Death of Balboa. 

He had with him three hundred men, and was ready 
to start on a voyage of discovery along the west coast of 
the continent to the south, when he was recalled by the 
governor. One of Balboa's enemies had told old Pedrarias 
that Balboa was about to found a new Spanish govern- 
ment in the land of gold to the south. Balboa returned 
across the isthmus to meet the governor. When near 
the governor's house, he was arrested by his old comrade, 
Francis Pizarro. He was found guilty on false charges 
and beheaded, after a brief trial, although he defended 
himself stoutly. 

15. Cortes. Exploration and Conquest of Mexico. 

In 1517 a Spanish sailor named Cordova left Cuba and 
visited the coast of Yucatan. In the following year, 
Grijalva (gre-hal'-va), another Spanish explorer, visited 
the same country and sailed along the coast. These two 
men have been called the discoverers of Mexico. The 
stories they told led to the further searching out of that 
country by Hernando Cortes. 

Ordered to Mexico. 

Cortes was a Spanish soldier who went from Spain, in 
1504, to the settlement of San Domingo, on the island 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



41 



of Hispaniola, now called Hayti. From there he was sent 
to Cuba, in 1511, to take part in the settlement of that 
island. After spending 






* )) 



//'/ ' 



some years there, he was 
ordered by the governor 
to visit the region we now 
call Mexico and make 
settlements there. 

Cortes was much 
pleased with the duty, 
because he had heard of 
the strange people of 
that countiy, and of their 
riches. He sailed from 
Cuba in February, 1519, 
though at the last mo- 
ment the governor tried 
to recall him. A landing was made on an island off 
the coast of Yucatan. Early the next month his little 
vessels reached the coast of Mexico, at a point about two 
hundred miles east of the present city of Vera Cruz. 

Troops of Cortes. 

He had in his little army, about five hundred Spanish sol- 
diers, besides some Indians from Cuba. He brought with 
him a few small cannon. Some of his men were armed with a 
kind of gun called the arquebus. Others carried crossbows, 
which they could use against an enemy with deadly effect. 



Hernando Coktes 



42 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



Some of the Spaniards had horses. The natives of 
Mexico, or Aztecs, as they were called, had never seen such 
animals. The horses and their riders frightened them, 
for they thought, at first, that rider and horse together 

were one animal. 
They were also 
greatly terrified 
at the noise made 
by the firing of 
the cannon. 
They had never 
seen or heard 
anything of that 
kind. 

The natives 
thought these 
wonderful beings 
who had come 
to visit their 
shores were not 
men, but gods. 
Soon after the 
landing there 
was a sharp bat- 
tle in which Cortes defeated the natives. This Spanish 
success was easy, for the natives were afraid of those 
dreadful monsters called horses, and Were scared by 
what they called the large sticks which spit fire, meaning 




Cboss-bows, with Crane Attachment, End of 
the Fifteenth Century 
' Artillery Museum, Paris 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 43 

the firearms. To fight against the deadly weapons of the 
strange white men, the poor Indians had only lances, 
javelins, bows and arrows, and heavy wooden swords. 

After this first fight, Cortes and his men moved westerly 
along the coast until a spot was reached which seemed good 
for a settlement. Here Cortes landed and built a small 
town, giving it the name (Vera Cruz) which, as a city, 
it bears to-day. The name is Spanish for True Cross. 

Fearing that he would be called back to Cuba by the 
governor of that island, Cortes now sank his ships, so that 
he would not be able to obey. He and his men must now 
beat the natives in battle or die fighting, for in case of 
defeat, he could not now get away. 

Hears of the City of Mexico. 

Being told of a rich city of many people far back from the 
coast, Cortes, with the Spanish thirst for gold, set out to 
take it. Moving westward, he began his march against 
this city in the summer of 1519. Marching over ever 
rising and mountainous countiy, the little army at length 
stood upon the Mexican table-land. This great plain is 
seven thousand feet or nearly one and a half miles higher 
than the coast. The weather was cold in this highland, 
and many of the natives who had come with Cortes from 
the.warm lowlands, sickened and died. 

When he had covered about half of his journey, he 
was attacked by a large body of warriors near a native 
village. The battle lasted for two days, but the poorly 



44 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



armed Indians, though great fighters, could not withstand 
the guns of the strange beings. Very few of the Spaniards 

were killed, while the 
Aztecs lost many of 
their best warriors. 

To prevent the na- 
tives from knowing 
that any of the Span- 
ish had been slain, 
the graves of those 
who had fallen were 
covered up. The na- 
tives thought that 
their new white ene- 
mies were immortal — 
that they could not 
be killed. Thinking 
that it would be use- 
less to fight against 
this army, they joined 




Aztec Wakrior, Tiger Costume 



it and marched 
against the main Az- 
tec tribe, which lived in the city of Mexico. They did 
this all the more willingly because they had long been at 
war with that tribe. This addition to his force was a 
great help to Cortes. 

Marching on, he came to a village where a plot had 
been made by the natives to destroy his army by falling 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 45 

upon it at night. But Cortes heard of the proposed 
attack in time to prepare for it, and in the battle that 
followed he put his foes to flight, killing many of them, 
and taking others. He was so cruel as to tie some of the 
captured chiefs to stakes and burn them alive. 

First Sight of City of Mexico. 

At last, after much weary marching, the Spaniards came 
to the eastern shore of a lake, and looking out over its 
water, saw what they were seeking — the ancient town of 
Mexico. This was, although they did not know it, the 
only large town in America. The Spaniards gazed in 
wonder upon this great city, with its large houses and 
well-built roads. Here it was that they were to find the 
gold and precious stones for which they had toiled in 
their long and weary travels over sea and land. 

The City of Mexico. 

The wonderful town which the Spaniards now beheld 
was built upon an island in the lake. A water pipe of 
stonework was built to it from a mountain on the shore. 
This gave to the people plenty of fresh water, for the 
water of the lake was salt. The town was connected 
with the mainland by three roads which ran in different 
directions to the shore. These were built of stone 
and had bridges, which could be drawn up in case of 
attack. The roads were four or five miles long and 
from twenty to thirty feet wide. Where these roads met 



46 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

in the center of the town there was a large square in which 
the temple of the Aztecs was built. The island was full 
of canals, upon which the natives glided to and fro in 
canoes. In the temple enemies taken in war were killed. 
Men, women, and sometimes children of their own people 
were killed here by the Aztecs. This was done to please 
the war god and other heathen gods, who were worshiped 
in the form of hideous idols. 

The houses were built of stone covered with white sun- 
dried clay. They were not more than two stories high, 
and upon their flat roofs, here and there, flower gardens 
were planted. Though not high, these houses were very 
large, and built around roomy courtyards. They had 
no doors, but could be guarded from inside. The windows 
were merely long, narrow slits cut in the walls. Each 
house was the dwelling place of a large number of people. 
As many as two hundred sometimes lived in one of them. 
At this time, in this island city, there were perhaps sixty 
thousand inhabitants. 

The city, with two other towns, on the shores of the lake, 
were peopled by the strongest of the ancient Aztec 
tribes. So strong and warlike were they, that they 
made their neighbors pay them a tax. This tax was 
a certain part of the crops which were raised. So it 
happened that the dwellers in the outlying villages, when 
they dared to be, were the enemies of the tribes of the 
lake towns. They were willing to join the forces of 
Cortes when he marched against them. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



47 



Montezuma. 

Montezuma, the Aztec ruler of the city, sent the 
Spaniards great gifts of gold and asked them to leave his 
country. But these signs of wealth only made the Span- 
iards more eager to take 
the city, and they refused 
to go . Since they were i a1 
his veiy door, Monte- 
zuma, thinking it the 
wisest thing to do to save 
trouble, asked them to 
come into the town. The 
Spaniards entered, being 
met by Montezuma at the 
gates, lie led them to 
a large house, near the 
temple, where Cort6s and 
his men were to live. 

Cortes had, at this 
time, about fifteen hun- 
dred men, two thirds of 
whom were the natives 
who had joined his forces. 
It was a time of danger for the Spaniards, for the 
Aztecs, if they knew their power, could destroy them. 
That they did not do so was due to their belief thai the 
Spaniards were godlike beings and could not be killed 
in war. 




Monti./! m ^ 
The picture reconstructed from data fur- 
nished by Clavigero, and the Ramirez Mss. 
by P. Fritel. 



48 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Knowing his danger, Cortes quietly made ready for 
the attack which he feared might come, and he always 
kept some of his soldiers on guard. He so placed his 
cannon that he could rake the streets with their deadly 
shots. 

Cortes had noticed, in his fights with the natives, that 
if their chief were taken, they lost heart and gave way. 
So he planned to make Montezuma his prisoner. A 
reason for doing this was soon found. Of a few Span- 
iards that had been left on the coast, some had been killed 
in a fight which one of Montezuma's men started. Cortes 
complained to Montezuma of this, and was told by him 
that the man would be punished. But this was not what 
Cortes really wanted. He claimed that Montezuma, to 
show that he was still friendly to the Spaniards, ought- to 
come and live in the same house with them. Of course 
Montezuma disliked to do this, but at last he consented, 
and so fell into the power of the Spaniard. In the same 
way Cortes gained like control of Montezuma's brother, 
who was in line to become the chief in case of Montezuma's 
death. 

Cortes was now the real ruler. When the Aztec 
chief who had attacked the Spaniards on the coast 
came to the city, he was seized by the soldiers of Cortes 
and burned at the stake. The crafty Cortes used javelins, 
arrows, and lances to feed the flames which roasted the 
poor prisoner. He was thus getting rid of his enemies 
and their weapons at the same time. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 49 

In this state of danger, and in the very heart of the 
enemies' country, Cortes and his troops passed the winter. 
But he could not be idle, and he spent the time in building 
small vessels, with which to retreat by way of the lake in 
case of sudden attack. 

Coming of Narvaez. 

Early in the next year, news was brought to Cortes that 
Narvaez (nar-va'-eth) had anchored on the coast, near 
Vera Cruz, with eighteen vessels having twelve hundred 
Spanish soldiers on board. Narvaez had come from Cuba 
and had been ordered by the governor of that island to 
arrest Cortes and bring him back. 

But this proved a hard thing to do, because Cortes 
was as active as he was bold. He lost no time, when he 
heard the news, but marched to the coast with three hun- 
dred of his men. Here he attacked and defeated the large 
force of Narvaez, which had landed, taking that com- 
mander prisoner. When the newcomers, beaten in battle, 
heard of the greatness and the riches of Montezuma's 
capital, they were glad to join the forces of Cortes. With 
this added strength he began his march back to the city 
on the lake. 

But things had been going wrong while he was away. 
He had left one hundred and fifty men in the city in com- 
mand of a brave but rash general, whose name was 
Alvarado (al-va-ra'-do). This headstrong soldier made 
an attack on the natives of the city, and in the fight 



50 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

killed many of them. The enraged inhabitants savagely 
fought the small body of Spaniards, and drove them to 
the house in which they had been living. The angry- 
natives pressed them fiercely and tried hard to tear down 
its walls. They were finally quieted when the captive 
Montezuma appeared on the roof and urged them to give 
up the attack. Obeying their chief, they went away, 
but, in the madness of their fury, they burned the boats 
which Cortes had built a few months before. 

Return of Cortes. 

So it happened that Cortes on his return from the coast 
found that the natives held the city, that his boats 
were burned, and that Alvarado and his men were shut 
up in their stronghold. 

About this time the Aztecs chose for their chief and 
leader Montezuma's brother, who had been released by 
the Spanish to procure food for their hungry and starving 
men. As the Aztec warriors now had a new king, the 
power of the captive Montezuma was broken, and 
under their new chief they at once began a fresh attack 
upon the Spaniards. The cannon of the Spaniards did 
terrible work, but the natives in large crowds fought 
from the tops of neighboring houses. Montezuma 
again tried to soften the fury of the fierce warriors 
and as he stood upon the roof he was struck by a stone 
thrown from a sling by one of his former subjects. He 
died from his wound a few days later. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 51 

Cortes Leaves the City. 

The Spaniards were now in great peril. Cortes, fear- 
ing that his men would have to yield for want of 
food, saw that he must try to get away. He marched his 
men, one night, to one of the roads leading out of the 
city. While on this narrow way, his force was again 
attacked by the maddened natives, who swarmed in their 
canoes on each side of it. 

After a deadly fight, which lasted all night, Cortes and 
his men forced their way to the mainland. It was a 
terrible battle, for about eight hundred of his own men and 
four thousand of the friendly natives who had joined his 
army were killed. He also lost all of his cannon and some 
of his horses. Though he sat down and cried at his defeat 
and at the terrible slaughter of his men, he did not give 
up. A few days later, the natives again attacked him, 
but met with a crushing defeat. 

Cortes now wisely spent his time in winning over more 
natives of the country around the lake. Many of 
them joined his little army. He also sent to Hispa- 
niola for more men and some cannon. At the close of 
the year 1520 he had a new army and was ready to fight 
again. 

His purpose to take the city was as strong as ever. 

Again he marched his men to the lake, where some 
more of the natives, being friendly, joined his army. Here 
he spent some time in building small vessels which could 
be used in a fresh attack. 



52 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Capture of the City. 

In April, 1521, everything being ready, he began his 
movement against the city. Some of his force, in this 
attack, were in boats, while the rest marched by the three 
roads. The struggle was fierce and bloody, for the natives 
of the city knew they were fighting for their lives and 
their homes, and they were ferocious in their bravery. 

At last, in the month of August, after terrible fighting 
for a period of nearly four months, the city was taken by 
the Spaniards. Thus the Aztec nation was conquered 
by Cortes, and Mexico became a Spanish province, so to 
remain for about three hundred years. 

Charles V, the king of Spain, made Cortes ruler of the 
country he had conquered. While Cortes was governor 
he made several journeys to the northward, and he also 
discovered and explored the peninsula of California. 

16. Magellan (Ferdinand), 1519-1522. 

The third and fourth voyages of Americus Vespucius 
were made along the eastern coast of South America. 
These voyages proved that a large continent lay to the 
south of the islands found by Columbus. His 
account of one of these two voyages greatly interested 
other navigators, among whom was Ferdinand Magellan. 
He made a voyage around the south end of the new conti- 
nent, and his vessels kept on until one of them sailed 
entirely around the earth. 

Magellan was a native of Portugal. When about 



54 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



twenty-five years of age, he went, with other Portuguese 
navigators, on a long voyage around the Cape of Good 

Hope to India. 
While in Eastern 
waters he visited 
the Malay penin- 
sula, and at one 
time, in a battle 
with the Malays, 
saved the life of 
his commander. 
It was what he 
learned in this voy- 
age to the East In- 
dies that made him 
the greatest sailor 
the world had 
ever known. 
Hearing of the 
voyages of Vespucius and their results, he set out to 
find a westerly passage to India through or around 
the new continent now called South America. He of- 
fered to do this for Emanuel, who was then king of 
Portugal. His offer was refused. He then went to the 
king of Spain, who employed him. Thus, for a second 
time, Portugal threw away the chance of discover- 
ing • new lands by the western route across the " Sea 
of Darkness." 




Magellan 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 55 

Magellan Starts. 

A fleet of five ships was made ready, and with Magellan 
as admiral, it left Spain in September, 1519. There were 
in this little fleet about three hundred men. In about 
a month it had crossed the ocean, reaching the coast of 
the country now called Brazil. During the voyage, 
Magellan was greatly worried by the conduct of some 
of the men under his command. Many of his crews 
were Spaniards who were jealous of him. They said 
that he, being a native of Portugal, could not be true 
to the king of Spain. At one time he was openly defied 
by one of the Spanish ship captains. This man was 
promptly and severely dealt with by Magellan, and placed 
in irons, and so ended the trouble for the time. 

Continuing his way to the south, the great sailor found 
harbor on the coast of the country now known as Pata- 
gonia, in March, 1520. As the long winter of this region 
was just beginning, he anchored there for the season. 

Soon after, while the little fleet was riding safely in 
this harbor, more of the sailors refused to obey him. 
Two of the Spanish ship captains with their followers 
boarded and captured the ship, whose commander had 
been placed in irons by Magellan. Three of his five ships 
were now in the hands of those who were against him. 
But by a sudden and brave attack, Magellan took one of 
these vessels, the Victory, which was to become famous 
as the only one of all the fleet that ever reached Spain. 
One of the two vessels that had been captured by the 



56 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

enemies of Magellan was fired upon by him and taken. 
The crew of the other surrendered. 

Straits of Magellan. 

In August, which in the southern seas is a winter 
month, the cold weather was becoming less severe. Then 
Magellan sailed on his way south, in search of some 
strait through which he could pass to the South Sea, as 
the Pacific was then called. About this time one of 
the ships was wrecked and lost. The captain of another, 
watching for a chance, ran away and took his 
vessel back to Spain. The rest of the sailors thought 
that this ship also had been lost. The little fleet, now 
reduced to three small ships, at last entered that great 
strait which ever since has borne the name of the brave 
Magellan. We must not think of the Strait of Magellan 
as a short and easy passage, for with its windings it is 
about three hundred miles long. 

On the Pacific Ocean. 

After many hardships, Magellan sailed out, in Novem- 
ber, 1520, upon the broad waters of the ocean which 
Balboa had first seen seven years before from the 
mountains of Darien, thousands of miles to the north. 
The surface of this ocean being pacific or quiet when he 
first saw it, he named it the Pacific Ocean. 

Now came a time of great suffering and hardship; 
but, with a stout heart, Magellan steered for the north- 



DISCOVERIES AND KXI'LORATIONS 57 

west, on his long voyage across the vast Pacific Ocean. 
Ead he sailed more nearly west, he would have found 
Australia. Food and water ran short, and the crews 
suffered from hunger, thirst, and sickness. 

After sailing for more than throe months, Magellan 
and his men at last reached the Ladrone Islands, which 
lie east of the Philippines and south of Japan. He was 
the first to cross the Pacific. Ten days later, and in 
March, 1521, the weary sailors reached the Philippine 
Islands. The finding of these Islands by him gave them 
to Spain, and they were held by that nation for nearly 
four hundred years. 

Death of Magellan. 

Magellan himself was killed in the Philippines in a 
fight between neighboring islanders in which he took 
part. One of his ships was now unfit for service and 
was set on fire and destroyed. The other two vessels 
sailed south to the Molucca or Spice Islands. After 
stopping there for some time, one of them, the 
Victory, sailed westerly, hound for home, around the 
southern end of Africa. She left the Moluccas about 
Christmas time, 1521, with fifty men on board, most of 
whom were sick and worn out by the toil of their long 
and dangerous journey. 

Into the Atlantic Ocean Again. 

Alter a voyage of sonic months, spent in crossing the 
Indian Ocean, she at last reached the Cape of Good 



58 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Hope. Rounding this cape and entering the Atlantic 
Ocean, the little Victory, turning to the northwest, sailed 
for Spain. She reached that country in September, 1522, 
manned by a few sick and half-starved men. This voy- 
age, the first to be made around the world, was by far 
the longest ever made up to that time. Three years 
had passed since the little fleet left Spain. When we 
think of the length and the perils of this voyage, and 
the small size and bad condition of the vessels, we must 
wonder that even one of the ships ever got home. 

What the Voyage Proved. 

From this time it was known that a vast continent 
lay to the westward of Europe, barring the way to the 
shores of Asia. There was no longer a doubt that the 
earth was round. 

17. Pizarro. 

The Spanish colonists on the Isthmus of Darien, barred 
from exploring the rich country to the north, already 
conquered by Cortes and his followers, turned to the 
south in their search for gold. 

We have read of Francis Pizarro in our story of Balboa. 
Pizarro had landed on the coast near Darien, in one of the 
voyages made from Hispaniola. For a short time he 
was commander of one of the Spanish settlements in 
that region. Afterward he was one of Balboa's com- 
panions on the march across the Isthmus, which ended 
in the discovery of the " South Sea," or Pacific Ocean. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 59 

When Balboa was making his famous journey across the 
Isthmus, one of the native chiefs told him, that far to 
the south, on the shores of the great ocean, was a land 




Francisco Pizarro 
Painting in the Viceroyal palace at Lima, Peru 

very rich in gold. Pizarro, hearing the remark, made up 
his mind that he would some time visit that country, for 
although he could neither read nor write, he felt that he 
could make new discoveries and find gold. 



60 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

But he did not get the chance to try until some years 
later. During this time the Spaniards had been slowly 
planting small settlements in this part of the new world. 
Panama, on the southern coast of the Isthmus, was set- 
tled by Pedrarias, the one who ordered the death of Bal- 
boa. This old man, fearful of an inquiry into his con- 
duct, had fled from Darien to Panama when he heard that 
a new governor was coming from Spain. Here Pizarro 
led a quiet life for about seven years. During all this time, 
he kept in mind what the native chief had told Balboa 
about the rich countries to the south. At last he decided 
to start on a voyage of discovery to this unknown coast. 

Pizarro tries to find Peru. 

He tried to reach that land in the south which the 
Spaniards called Biru, a word which afterward became 
Peru. His first fleet came back badly damaged by 
wind and weather. Again he tried, two years later 
(1526), and landed some of his men on the coast. From 
there, which was a long distance from Peru, he sent one 
of his ships back to Panama for more men and for sup- 
plies. While he was waiting for help from Panama, one 
of his pilots coasted to the south in the remaining ship. 
He passed the equator -and on the coast of the country 
we now call Ecuador captured some natives. These he 
carried back to Pizarro, and they told him of the extent 
and richness of the country of the Incas, as the natives 
of Peru were called. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 61 

The supplies from Panama arrived, and Pizarro went 
forward and landed on a small island near the coast. He 
had not been there long before a ship came which had 
been sent to bring him and his men back to Panama. 
Pizarro refused to go. Drawing a line upon the sand, he 
stepped across it and said to his men, "Those of you 
who are brave enough, follow me." Sixteen of the men 
crossed the line. The rest returned to Panama. For the 
next seven months Pizarro and his men suffered much 
from lack of food. 

Finds Peru. 

At last a ship was sent from Panama to their aid. 
Embarking in this, the entire party sailed to the south, 
reached the northern coast of the present country, Peru, 
and landed at one of the cities of the Incas. 

Here the Spaniards found a people unlike any they had 
ever seen. They were somewhat like the Aztecs, but were 
not so savage, and they did not kill their war captives 
as sacrifices to their various heathen gods. The Incas 
worshiped the sun. They had great riches of gold and 
silver ornaments and vases which the Spaniards very 
much admired. 

Leaving this place, they sailed along the coast south- 
ward to a point about six hundred miles beyond the 
equator. Having thus found a vast and rich country 
for Spain, the Spaniards returned to Panama, and Pizarro 
went on to Spain, where he was received with great honor. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 63 

Two years later (1530) he came back to Peru, founded 
the city of Lima, and made war on the natives for ten 
years. The Incas were fighting among themselves at 
this time, and that made their overthrow easy, though at 
times they killed many of the Spaniards. Pizarro acted 
with much cruelty and treachery. Sometimes he met in 
battle former companions, who had become his enemies, 
and in one of these fights he was killed (1541). 

The Incas. 

Before the coming of Pizarro, the Incas, a half-civilized 
people, had ruled over a large portion of the western and 
northwestern part of South America. They were skillful 
in building roads, and they fitted together with great 
exactness the huge stones with which their buildings 
and temples were made. The Incas used the llama as 
a beast of burden and were the only people of the new 
world to use animals for this purpose. They were rich 
in gold and silver, of which the Spaniards took great 
quantities. Remains of their temples and the gold and 
silver ornaments used by them have been found in 
various places. 

18. Vasquez de Ayllon. 

The Spanish voyages thus far had not extended north 
of the southern part of North America. Florida was as 
far north as the Spaniards had gone up to this time, 
though Vespucius had sailed along the coast of what is 
now our country farther to the north on his first voyage. 



64 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

The Spaniards always made slaves of the natives of 
the lands found by them. They forced the poor Indians 
to work in the mines, and hunted them with fierce blood- 
hounds when they tried to run away. Owing to this cruel 
treatment, large numbers of these slaves died. 

A Spaniard named De Ayllon [da ah-eel-yone'], living 
at San Domingo, set out to get more slaves to work in 
the mines which he owned in Hispaniola. He fitted out 
two vessels and sailed away to the northwest to visit the 
mainland. He first saw the land of the east coast of 
South Carolina. Upon landing he was treated by the na- 
tives with great kindness. The Spaniards, however, were 
cruel to them. They invited a number of the natives to 
visit their vessels, and when they were aboard sailed away 
with them. But the poor captives in one of the vessels 
all sickened and died, and the other ship was wrecked. 

In 1526 De Ayllon visited the James River, of which 
we have yet much to learn. (See map on page 154.) 
The natives along the coast had not forgotten him and 
his doings. Shortly after the Spanish landed, the Indians 
invited them to a great feast. The Spaniards ate and 
drank their fill for a number of days. At last sleep over- 
came them, and as they slept, the Indians killed nearly 
all of them. De Ayllon himself died shortly afterward. 

19. Narvaez. 

The success of Cortes in Mexico led to new efforts by 
other Spanish explorers. We have seen that the governor 
of Cuba sent out a body of soldiers to Mexico to take 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 65 

the command from Cortes, and that Cortes fought and 
defeated it. The leader of this small army was a Spaniard 
named Narvaez — Panfilo de Narvaez (pan'-fe-lo da nar- 
va'-eth). 

Visits Florida. 

In the fight with Cortes Narvaez was badly wounded, 
and taken prisoner. When he was set free, he returned 
to Spain. In 1527 he sailed from that country to explore 
and conquer Florida. After spending some time at San 
Domingo and in Cuba, he landed on the west coast of 
Florida in April, 1528, with about four hundred men 
and some horses. He thought that Florida might be as 
rich in gold as Mexico. Ordering his small fleet to move 
along the coast, he, with some of his men, traveled 
inland. His cruel and treacherous treatment of the 
natives angered them, and they fought him at every 
point. He worked back to the coast, but could not find 
his ships, though he spent many weary days in search- 
ing for them. He never saw them again. 

All except Four Perish. 

Some of his men built some small boats, and in these 
the party coasted along the Gulf of Mexico to the west- 
ward, until they came near the mouth of the Mississippi 
River. They suffered severely from thirst, hunger, and 
hardship, dying one by one on the way, until only four 
were left. Narvaez himself was drowned. The four that 
lived wandered for years among the Indians. In 1536, 



66 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

after eight years in the wilderness, they reached the 
western coast' of Mexico at the Gulf of California. There 
they told some of their countrymen living in an outlying 
settlement, that, in their wanderings, they had found 
seven great cities of vast wealth. They had seen no such 
cities, but had probably visited some of the villages of the 
Zuiii Indians. The Zuni houses were built of stone and 
sun-dried clay, and were several stories high. They were 
called (pweb-1 6s). The word "pueblo" means village. The 
ruins of these villages may still be seen in the western part 
of New Mexico and in southern Arizona. They also spoke 
of the beauty of portions of the country they had crossed 
and of the great herds of buffaloes that they had seen. 

Wanderings of the Four. 

One of these four men wrote the story of his travels. 
The story goes that the Indians whom they met treated 
them at first as slaves. After a while they made the 
Indians believe that they were men of magic, able to 
heal the sick, and then they were treated much better. 
Their course was over mountains and across rivers and 
plains, always bearing to the westward. It lay through 
the present state of Texas and on through Mexico. 
They were the first white men to visit the southwestern 
part of what is now our countiy. 

20. The Expedition of Coronado. 

The stories told to the Spaniards in Mexico by these 
four men led to further search. Catholic priests, or friars, 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 67 

as they were called, went among the Indians as mis- 
sionaries. They built in the wilds of the country many 
little chapels or churches for the Indians to meet in. The 
places where these chapels stood were called missions. 
Father Mark, a priest of one of these Spanish missions in 
Mexico, made a journey to the northeast in 1539. With 
him was "Little Steve," a negro, one of the four that 
had been with Narvaez. He was gone several months 
and saw one or more pueblos built by the Zuiii Indians. 
These he thought might be what the four men had taken 
to be cities. 

Little Steve was sent ahead as a scout by Father Mark 
and saw one of the pueblos. Though he was warned 
not to come near, he entered one of the houses and 
angered the Indians by his rudeness. He told them that 
he was " a man of magic," or what the Indians called 
a " medicine man," and was able to heal the sick. Be- 
coming quarrelsome, he was killed by those whose .quiet 
he was disturbing. Frightened by the death of " Little 
Steve," Friar Mark gave up his journey and went back. 
The party had seen one of the pueblos from a hill. His 
companions, after their return, said that they had seen 
one of the " seven great cities." These stories led to an 
expedition made by Coronado. 

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (fran-cis'-ko vas'-keth 
da cor'-o-na'-do) was, at this time, the Spanish governor 
of a province of Mexico. In 1540 he was sent out by 
the governor of Mexico to make a further search. He 



68 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

started from the Gulf of California with about twelve 
hundred men, and was gone two years. He found no 
cities, though he visited a number of pueblos. 

Traveling in a northeasterly direction, he crossed the 
Rocky Mountains and probably passed through the 
country now known as Colorado and Kansas. It is 
thought that he went as far east as the Mississippi River. 
In 1542 he got back to Mexico. Had he traveled farther 
to the south, he might have met the expedition of De 
Soto, of which we are about to tell. 
21. Fernando de Soto: Discovery of the Mississippi River. 

From the time when the voyages of Vespucius and 
Magellan showed America to be a continent barring the 
way to Asia, explorers were busy seeking to find a sea 
passage through it into the Pacific Ocean. De Soto, a 
Spanish soldier and sailor, had explored the Pacific coast 
for a great distance to see if there were straits connect- 
ing the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He had also been a 
companion of Pizarro in Peru and was one of the Spanish 
soldiers on the Isthmus of Darien. After years of ad- 
venture he returned to Spain with great wealth, and in 
1531 was made governor of Cuba. 

Discovers the Mississippi River. 

In 1539 De Soto sailed from Cuba to see what he 
might find in Florida. He had a fleet of ten vessels 
which he had brought from Spain, and with him were a 
thousand men. Spaniards believed that Florida was as 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



69 



rich in gold as cither Mexico or Peru. De Soto went to 
seek for this gold. He took along a number of horses. 
Landing on the west coast of Florida, at Tampa Bay, he 
sent some of his boats along the coast nearly to Appa- 
lachee Bay. He then moved northward and spent the 
winter in the northwest part of Florida. Early in 




Thk Bukial of De Soto 

the next year he marched northerly to what is now 
the northern part of Georgia. From there he traveled 
to the southwest, across Alabama, to about the site of the 
present city of Mobile. Thence he journeyed to the north- 
west and reached the Mississippi River in April, 1541. 
After crossing the river not far from where Memphis now 
stands, he moved south along the western bank of the 



70 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

stream. From here, turning to the west, he crossed 
Arkansas. Still working to the south, the party at length 
reached the mouth of the Red River, where De Soto died 
in May, 1542. He was buried in the water of the great 
river he had discovered. (Trace the course of De Soto on 
the map of the United States in your geography.) 

By this time about half of his men had died from fever 
or had been killed by the Indians. After spending another 
year on the west bank of the Mississippi River, those who 
were left built small vessels, sailed down the river to the 
Gulf, and thence made their way to Mexico. 

SUMMARY 

1. The closing of the overland routes to India by the Turks, 

about the middle of the fifteenth century, led to search 
by Portugal for an all-water route. 

2. Da Gama, a Portuguese navigator, discovered such a route 

to India by sailing around Africa (1497-1499). 

3. Columbus tried to find India by sailing westward, but 

found instead some islands belonging to an unknown 
continent. This amounted to his discovering the con- 
tinent itself. 

4. The honor of making this great continent known to the 

white race belongs to Spain, whose queen, Isabella, fur- 
nished Columbus with means for the voyage. 

5. The natives of this continent were called by Columbus 

" Indians/' a name they bear to this day. 

6. Americus Vespucius, an Italian navigator, while employed 

by Portugal, coasted along that part of the Western 
continent called Brazil (1501-1502). The Western 
continent was named America because it was made 
known by Americus. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 71 

7. Balboa discovered the South Sea or Pacific Ocean (1513). 

8. Cortes explored and conquered Mexico (1519-1521). 

9. Pizarro invaded and conquered Peru (1524-1541). 

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 

1. Why did it become necessary to search for an all-water 

route to India? 

2. What country was most active at first in this search? 

3. Who made the first all-water journey to India? 

4. To what country did Columbus first apply for aid ? 

5. From what country did he secure aid? 

6. What land did Columbus suppose that he had found? 

7. What did he call the western islands that he found ? Why ? 

8. What did he call the natives? 

9. Why was this continent called "America"? 

10. What was proved by Magellan's great voyage? 

11. Did Magellan himself return to Spain? 

12. Who explored Mexico ? When? 

13. What were the natives of that country called? Who was 

their king? 

14. Who discovered the "South Sea"? When? Who gave it 

the name, — Pacific Ocean ? 

15. Who was Pizarro ? What country did he visit ? 

16. What parts of America were chiefly visited by the Spanish 

explorers ? 

17. Name three explorers who visited Florida. 

18. What Spaniard made the longest overland journey up to 

this time within what is now our country ? Where did 
he go? 

19. Why were the Spaniards unsuccessful in founding settle- 

ments ? 

20. How did the Spaniards always treat the natives ? 



CHAPTER II 

THE VOYAGES AND DISCOVERIES OF THE ENGLISH, 
FRENCH, AND DUTCH 

I. English Explorations 
22. John and Sebastian Cabot. 

When Columbus was trying to get aid from Spain, he 
sent his brother Bartholomew to England to see if Henry 
VII, the king of that nation, would help him. King 
Henry sent word for Columbus to come to England. 
But before Bartholomew got back with this message, his 
brother Christopher had started from Spain on his voyage 
of discovery. 

Up to that time all the great ocean voyages had been 
made by the sailors of either Portugal or Spain. King 
Henry wished England to have some share in the glory 
and profit of new-world discoveries. So he began look- 
ing for skillful sailors whom he might send across the 
Atlantic. 

England begins to explore. 

As it happened, there lived at Bristol in England, at 
this time, two natives of Venice, highly skilled in sailing. 
They were father and son, and their names were John and 

72 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



73 




Sebastian Cabot. King 
Henry employed them to 
lead a voyage to find In- 
dia by sailing far to the 
north. They set sail from 
England in a single ship, 
taking a course far to the 
north of that taken by 
Columbus. In June, 1497, 
they came in sight of the 
shore of the Western 
continent, probably as far 
north as Labrador or 
Newfoundland, or even 
farther. They thought 
that they had found the east Coast of China. Some 
writers say that the land first seen by them was Cape 
Breton Island, near Nova Scotia. They told of the won- 
derful codfish banks near Newfoundland. 

A second voyage was made in 1498 by Sebastian Cabot. 
He sailed along the coast for quite a distance to the 
south. Some years later he made other voyages to this 
great western land. It was now known that the country 
was a continent, and King Henry VIII sent him to seek 
a northwest passage through it or around it to India. 
On this voyage lie tried to enter what was later known 
as Hudson Bay. At a later time he was employed by 
Spain for a southern voyage and visited the southeast 



Explorations of thb Cauots 



74 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

coast of South America, discovering the rivers Paraguay 
and Rio de La Plata. In his old age he returned to 
England and died in poverty in London. On the two 
early voyages of the Cabots, England based her claim in 
later years to the northern and middle part of North 
America. 

23. Sir Francis Drake. 

After the voyages of the Cabots nothing further was 
done by England in the way of seeking for new lands for 
nearly eighty years. Then came England's first great nav- 
igator, Sir Francis Drake, who was the first Englishman 
to sail around the globe. His great voyage was finished 
in the year 1580. When a young man, Drake made voy- 
ages along the Guinea coast of Africa, as Columbus had 
done a hundred years before. 

The Netherlands, which we know as Holland, and also 
as the home of the Dutch, had been under the Spanish 
yoke for many years. This people broke away in 1567 
from Spanish rule. This led to a war in which England 
helped the Dutch. This state of war gave English cap- 
tains like Drake a chance to attack Spanish vessels wher- 
ever they could find them. During the first year of the 
war, Drake sailed with Sir John Hawkins against the 
Spaniards in Mexico. In a sea battle off the coast of 
Mexico, near Vera Cruz, he was defeated by the Spanish 
and returned to England. He attacked other Spanish 
vessels and destroyed some of them on the coasts of South 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 75 

America. From one vessel he took thirty tons of silver. 
From a mountain on the Isthmus of Panama he saw the 
Pacific Ocean and resolved to make a voyage upon it. 




Painting in possession of T. F. Eliott Drake, Xutwell Court, near Exeter, England. 

Admiral Sir Francis Drake 

Drake Visits the Pacific Coast of America. 
He left England on this voyage in 1577. His purpose 
was to capture Spanish vessels in the Pacific, laden with 



76 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

plunder, which the Spanish had taken from the natives 
of South America and Mexico. He passed through the 
Straits of Magellan to capture such Spanish vessels as he 
could find along the west coast of South America. He 
coasted to the north, along what is now California, and 
called the country New Albion. As other navigators had 
sought for a northern passage from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, so he now sought one from the Pacific to the 
Atlantic. He sailed as far north as Vancouver Island, 
and perhaps farther, but, owing to the cold weather, he 
returned. It is thought that he entered through the 
Golden Gate to San Francisco Bay. During the time 
that he spent on the coast of California, he, unlike the 
Spanish, was very friendly with the natives. They called 
him their king, and he claimed the country in the name 
of Elizabeth, queen of England. It was on this visit to 
the Oregon coast in 1579 that England based her claims 
to that region many years later. He did not dare to sail 
for England by way of the Straits of Magellan, fearing 
Spanish war vessels that lay in wait for him there. 

Starts across the Pacific Ocean. 

So he started from near San Francisco Bay to cross the 
Pacific Ocean. He meant to get home by sailing around 
the south end of Africa, as Magellan's ship, the Victory, 
had done. (Trace the course of Drake on the map of the 
Western Hemisphere in your geography.) 

His course took him to the Spice Islands, at which the 




77 



78 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

ships of Magellan had touched nearly sixty years before. 
Thence he laid his course across the Indian Ocean, around 
the Cape of Good Hope, and at length reached Eng- 
land in 1580. His vessel was laden with gold and silver, 
captured from Spanish ships along the American coasts. 
This was the second passage of a vessel around the world. 
Queen Elizabeth, pleased with his success, made him a 
knight. Drake was England's greatest mariner during 
her reign. 

England becomes the Leading Power. 

He afterward made war upon the Spanish on the coasts 
of both America and Spain. In 1588 Spain sent a large 
fleet, called the Armada, against England, the largest 
fleet the world had ever known. Drake was made vice 
admiral of the English fleet that was to fight it. The 
great Spanish fleet was defeated and nearly destroyed. 
This victoiy made England the leading power of Europe, 
and led her to plant colonies in America. 

Before this breaking of Spanish power upon the sea, 
England had sent out a number of vessels to explore this 
continent on its Atlantic side. Frobisher had failed in 
trying to find a northwest passage to Asia (1576-1578). 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert had visited Newfoundland in 1583 
and claimed that country for the queen of England. 
That great Englishman, Walter Raleigh, half-brother to 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had also tried to found a colony 
on Roanoke Island, 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



79 



24. Sir Walter Raleigh. Roanoke Island. 

The first attempts to found an English colony in North 
America were made by Raleigh 



He was born in England 




From P ainting iiv Federigo Zuccen 



Sir Walter Raleigh 



in 1552. While a young man he served bravely as a soldier 
in the Netherlands to help the Dutch against the Span- 
ish rule, and thus gained the favor of Queen Elizabeth. 



80 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Raleigh and Gilbert started, in 1579, on a voyage to 
America. They turned back, because of bad weather, 
after their ships had been damaged in a fight with Span- 
ish war vessels. Then Raleigh obtained from the queen 
a grant of any country that he might discover in America, 
" not actually possessed of any Christian prince, nor 
inhabited by Christian people." This grant, or charter 
as it was called, was made in 1584. 

In that year, Raleigh sent over two vessels under the 
command of Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow. In 
July they reached the coast of what is now North Caro- 
lina and entered the waters of Pamlico Sound. They 
sailed also into Albemarle Sound and found Roanoke 
Island, which is in the narrow strait connecting these 
sounds. There they spent the summer. In the fall 
they went back to England and told the queen all about 
the beautiful country they had found. 

The queen gave to this land the name Virginia. 
She was so pleased with what Raleigh had done that she 
made him a knight, and so it happens that he is known 
as Sir Walter Raleigh. 

First Attempt to found an English Settlement in 
America. 

Early in the following year, Raleigh tried to start a vil- 
lage of English people on Roanoke Island. He sent out 
seven ships with about two hundred Englishmen. Sir 
Ralph Lane, who went with them, was to be the governor. 
The vessels were nearly wrecked off the coast of North 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



81 



Carolina, but the island was reached early in the summer. 
Leaving the settlers there, the ships Went back. This 
was about the time the Spanish were settling at Santa Fe. 




The so-called " Ermine" portrait, at HutfUM House, the home >>t Lord Burleigh. 



Queen Elizabeth 

These men were not fitted for life in a new and wild 
country. They would not do the hard work that was 
needed, nor were they wise enough to make friends of the 



82 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Indians. Like the Spaniards, they would rather search 
for gold than till the soil. Their governor, Lane, could 
not make them work, and they were soon suffering from 
sickness and hunger. Sir Francis Drake happened to 
be coasting along the shores of this part of America at 
that time, in search of Spanish ships to plunder. He 
visited Roanoke Island, and, pitying the starving settlers, 
took them back to England. 

Second attempt. 

Raleigh sent out another company in 1587 in charge of 
John White, who was to be their governor. These people 
were workmen and farmers. They meant to settle on 
the shores of Chesapeake Bay, but landed at Roanoke 
Island. White soon went back to England for more men 
and for supplies. As England was now busy in preparing 
to resist the coming Spanish Armada, White was for some 
time unable to get either men or ships. Raleigh himself 
was busy, for he had to help fight the Armada. He 
managed, however, to send two vessels with food and 
tools. These ships never reached the settlement. Three 
years after he had left Roanoke Island, White came back, 
but the people he had left there were all gone. The only 
trace of them was the word " Croatan " carved on a tree. 
That was the name of a neighboring island. White wished 
to visit this island, but was not able to do so. The weather 
was bad, and the captain of his ship would not wait for 
him. He even threatened to leave White on the deserted 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 83 

island. The settlers were probably either killed by the 
Indians or died from hardship and hunger. They were 
never seen or heard of again. Among the lost were 
White's daughter, Mrs. Eleanor Dare, and her little child 
Virginia, the first white child born in America. 

These failures to settle Virginia used up Raleigh's vast 
fortune. It was too great an undertaking for one man 
to carry out. He sold his charter to a company of mer- 
chants, but for many years they did not try to make 
another settlement. 

The English were now beginning to know something 
about the middle portion of their long coast line in the 
new world. Tobacco, first seen by Columbus in the West 
Indies, was found by Raleigh's men also in Virginia. It 
■was taken to England by them, where Raleigh made it 
known. It was said of Raleigh that he " laid the corner- 
stone of the American Republic." Yet for over a hun- 
dred years after the discoveiy of America there were no 
Englishmen living there. 

Raleigh in Prison. 

In 1595 Raleigh visited Guiana in South America. 
When Elizabeth died, in 1603, he was arrested as a traitor 
by order of James I, who was king after she died. He 
was sentenced to death and confined in a prison known 
as the Tower of London. 

While in prison he busied himself in writing a " Histoiy 
of the W^orld." After being shut up for thirteen years 



84 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

he was set free and was sent in command of fourteen 
ships to Guiana, in search of gold and other treasure. 
England was now at peace with Spain, and he was ordered 
not to trouble the Spanish. One of his captains, how- 
ever, with two hundred and fifty men, went up the 
Orinoco River in small boats to a Spanish settlement. 
They burnt the houses and killed the governor. Raleigh 
went back to England in 1618, but he carried with him 
no gold or treasure. The king, angry at his failure, 
caused Raleigh to be again sent to the Tower, and soon 
after he was put to death. 

II. French Explorations 

25. French Voyages of Discovery to the New World. 
John Verrazano. 

Following the discoveries of the Cabots and before the 
voyages of Drake, Gilbert, and other English explorers 
were made, France was busy gaining a foothold in the 
New World. Her explorers confined themselves chiefly 
to Nova Scotia and the region of the St. Lawrence and the 
Great Lakes. (Find this region on the map of North 
America in your geography.) 

For years after^the Cabots had made their voyages, 
the French, the Spanish, and the Portuguese had fished 
for codfish off the northeastern coast of North America. 
Until the sixteenth century was well advanced, however, 
the French did nothing which would give them a claim 
to the mainland. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 85 

But in 1524 Francis I, king of France, sent John Verra- 
zano (var-ra-tsa'-no), an Italian navigator, on a voyage of 
discovery to North America to seek a short passage to 
India. He reached North America near the mouth of 
the Cape Fear River. Thence he followed the coast 
northward as far as the great island now called New- 
foundland. On his way he entered the bay at the mouth 
of the river since called the Hudson. He also visited 
Narragansett Bay and one or more islands near it. On 
his return to France, in the summer of 1524, he wrote a 
letter to the king, which gave the story of his voyage and 
described the appearance, mode of life, and customs of 
the Indians. He said in this stoiy that the lands he had 
found were " never before seen of any man, either ancient 
or modern." 

26. Jacques Cartier. 

In 1534, ten years after the voyage of Verrazano, 
Cartier (car-te-a'), a French navigator, sailed from France 
to see what he could find in the New World. He visited 
Newfoundland and sailed into the great gulf since called 
the St. Lawrence, thinking that if was the long-sought 
passage to India. He went back to France the same 
year, but set out again in May, 1535, with three vessels. 
This time he went up the St. Lawrence River to the site 
of the present city of Montreal. Sailing back down the 
river, he anchored his ships for the winter near the site of 
Quebec. It was a hard winter and many of his men 



86 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



sickened and died. He went back to France the next 
summer, taking some of the Indians with him. On his 

voyages, France claimed 
the country visited by 
him, and all the land 
drained by the St. Law- 
rence River and its 
branches. This carried 
the claims of France to 
the country of the Great 
Lakes. 

A grant of country in 
the St. Lawrence region 
was now made by the 
king to a Frenchman, 
named RobervaL Car- 
tier was sent out by Ro- 
berval on a third voyage. 
He left France in May, 
1541, with five vessels, 
and after a stormy voyage reached Quebec. Roberval 
himself was to follow later with ships and supplies. 

Cartier again went up the St. Lawrence River, visited 
what is now the island of Montreal, and traveled over 
the surrounding country for some distance beyond. 
The weather was terribly cold and his men were worn out. 
As Roberval did not come, he floated down the river and 
set sail for France. On his way he met Roberval off the 




Cartier 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 87 

coast of Newfoundland with three ships and about two 
hundred settlers. 

Roberval ordered Cartier to go back to Quebec, but he 
disobeyed, and on a dark night made his escape and bore 
away for France. Roberval went on, sailed up the river 
and started his settlement, but it was a failure. No fur- 
ther attempts were made by the French to make set- 
tlements in the region they claimed for more than fifty 
years. 

27. The Huguenots. 

In 1562, some French people called Huguenots fled 
from France, where they had been ill treated, to settle in 
what later was known as South Carolina. Two years 
after that, a party of Frenchmen tried to found a colony 
on the St. Johns River in Florida, and the following year 
more French people came to it. But this was Spanish 
territory, being the country that had been visited and 
explored by Ponce de Leon, Narvaez, and De Soto. The 
Spaniard, Menendez, marched against this French settle- 
ment in Florida, in 1565, and killed its people, — men, 
women, and children. 

Menendez built a fort here and started a settlement 
which afterward became St. Augustine, the oldest town 
in the United States. 

28. Samuel Champlain. New France. 

The greatest of the French explorers was Samuel Cham- 
plain (sham-plane'). He, more than any other man, caused 



88 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



the settlement by the French of the country once called 
" New France/' now named Canada. He has been known 

as the " Father of New 
France." 

In an early voyage to 
this continent (1599) he 
visited the West Indies, 
Mexico, and the Isthmus 
of Panama. He was the 
first man to advise that 
a canal be cut across this 
narrow neck of land, from 
ocean to ocean, a thing 
which is now being done 
by our people. It was 

Samuel Champlain c l ear to him that this 

would give the short water route to India that all Europe 
wanted. In 1603 he made a voyage to North America 
and visited the site of Quebec. Five years later he made 
a settlement there which has grown to be the present city 
of Quebec. Three years before that time a settlement 
had been made by the French at Port Royal on the west 
coast of Nova Scotia, but it was not a lasting one. 

The Indians, in the region around Quebec, were known 
as the Algonquins. They were at war with the Iroquois 
(e-ro-quah') Indians who lived to the south in the region 
which is now New York State, and were known as the 
Five Nations. 




DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 89 

Attacks the Indians. 

In 1609 Champlain set out to attack the Iroquois. He 
entered the lake which now bears his name with a war 
party of Algonquins in canoes. Near the south end 
of the long and narrow lake he met and defeated a large 
number of Indians of the Mohawk tribe, which was one 
of the Five Nations. They were easily defeated, being 
frightened at the discharge of the firearms which Cham- 
plain and a few of his men carried. They could not bear 
up against the noise and smoke, nor could they under- 
stand why some of their number fell dead without being 
struck by anything so far as they could see. 

Champlain was a tireless explorer. At one time he 
sailed along the coast of the present states of Maine and 
Massachusetts and made a map of it. In 1615 and 
1616 he explored a large section of country between Mon- 
treal and Lake Huron, and traveled along the Ottawa 
River. From Lake Huron he traversed the country to 
Lake Ontario. Crossing this lake he entered the region 
south of it. He was made governor of Quebec and died 
there in 1635. Except a visit now and then to France, 
he had spent twenty-seven years in the wilds of Canada. 

III. Dutch Explorations 

29. The Dutch in the New World. Henry Hudson. New 
Netherlands. 
During the year in which Champlain was fighting the 
Indians on the shores of Lake Champlain, Henry Hudson, 



90 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

an Englishman, in the service of the Dutch, explored the 
river that now bears his name. 

Hudson was born about the middle of the sixteenth 
century. He made four voyages, two of which were to 
this continent. He was sent out on his first voyage in 
1607 by a company of English merchants to search for a 
passage to India. Sailing to the coast of Greenland, in 
the hope that he could pass westward around the north 
end of America through the Arctic sea, he was turned 
back by the ice. He then tried to find an eastward pas- 
sage to India, through the icy seas north of Europe. 
Again he failed, and he returned to England. In 1608 
he tried again, and this time sailed as far north as Nova 
Zembla, but was again checked by the ice. 

Hudson employed by Holland. 

In 1609 Holland was the leading commercial country 
in Europe. Her port of Amsterdam was the busiest 
one in the world. She had a large trade with the East 
Indies by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and her mer- 
chants much desired a short water route for their ships 
to that distant country. They engaged Hudson to make 
a search for one. 

Hudson sailed away from Amsterdam, April, 1609, in a 
vessel named the Half Moon. On this voyage he skirted 
the coast of Greenland and went south along the coast 
of North America as far as what is now the state of Vir- 
ginia. On his return he entered the waters of what we 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



91 



know as Delaware Bay. He also visited the same harbor 
at the mouth of a great river, that Verrazano entered long 
before, now known as New York harbor. He sailed up 
that river, mistaking it for a strait that would prove to 





^ 




^aBnlijjr ,; ^fll iBt" 




7 BBk^ ' flU ■ ^i 

MBBeHP jHbbW 


Hfek&/-' ^*^7«^ 




^^^^" ^PWH| 


"~_- "- :_--i_"^ - :-, ) 



Dutch Ship on the Hudson 



be a northwest passage to India, and went as far as 
where now stands Albany. On the way going and 
coming he often landed, and his vessel was visited by 



92 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

many Indians who came in canoes. He returned to 
England and sent to his employers at Amsterdam the 
story of his voyage. 

Hudson left England, in her service, on his last voyage, 
in 1610. This as we have seen was at about the time that 
the people of Jamestown were struggling for life. He 
sailed to the northwest and discovered Hudson Bay. He 
planned to spend the winter there, but his men would not 
obey him. He, with his son, and seven of his crew, were 
set adrift in a small boat, and the rest of the crew sailed 
for England. The English, learning of this cruel act from 
one of the men who came back, sent a vessel to search 
for the missing men. No trace of them was ever found. 

Dutch Claims. 

On the third voyage of Hudson, the Dutch based a claim 
to the country each side of the Hudson River, south- 
westerly to the Delaware and as far to the east as the 
Connecticut River. This country they called the New 
Netherlands. 

Hudson called the river he had explored the " River of 
the Mountains." It was afterward named in his honor, 
Hudson River. The Dutch called the Hudson River the 
North River, a name by which many still call it. The 
Delaware River was then known as the South River. 

In 1614 a settlement was made by the Dutch on what 
the Indians called Manhattan Island. This settlement 
was the beginning of our present city of New York, 



•DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 93 

Another settlement, called Fort Orange, was made at a 
point about one hundred and forty-five miles up the river, 
which has grown to be our present city of Albany. Trad- 
ing posts were also established to the south along the 
Delaware River. 

Later, in 1621, a new company was formed in Holland 
called " The Dutch West India Company." This company 
directed the affairs of the New Netherlands. 

The Dutch did not busy themselves in searching for 
silver and gold. They did not as a rule attack the Indians 
and thus make enemies of them. They wished to trade 
with the Indians and sought furs rather than gold. 

SUMMARY 

1. England based her claim to a large part of North America 

on the voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot (1497-1498). 

2. The extent of these claims was defined by grants or charters 

made by James I to the London and Plymouth com- 
panies (1606). 

3. By second charter (1609) the land that might be settled 

was made to extend from sea to sea. 

4. England claimed territory on the Pacific coast (Oregon 

country) on account of the voyage of Sir Francis Drake 
(1577-1580). 

5. Sir Francis Drake was the first Englishman to sail com- 

pletely around the globe. 

6. Sir Walter Raleigh, although his efforts to settle Roanoke 

Island failed, started interest in the sending of English 
people to the New World. 

7. The defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588) made England a 



94 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

leading world power and led her to make further efforts 
to make settlements in the New World. 

8. The French explored the region of the St. Lawrence. 

Cartier (1534-1542) and Champlain (1603-1635) were her 
leading explorers. 

9. Henry Hudson, in the employ of the Dutch, sailed along 

the coast of this continent from Maine to Virginia and 
explored the Hudson River (1609). Explored Hudson 
Bay (1610), being then in service of England. 

10. The discoveries of Spain, England, France, and Holland 

led to disputes about the lands claimed in this continent. 

11. The French settled Quebec (1608), and the Dutch, Man- 

hattan Island (1614). 

12. These settlements are connected with the names of Samuel 

Champlain and Henry Hudson. 

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 

1. When did England first send an expedition to this coun- 

try ? By whom was this voyage made ? 

2. What countries of Europe had been active before this in 

sending out navigators ? 

3. What part of this continent was visited by the Cabots? 

What country did they think they had discovered? 

4. By what country was Sebastian Cabot later employed as a 

navigator ? What region did he visit ? 

5. Who was England's greatest navigator ? Why? 

6. Why were Spain and England enemies during the latter 

part of the sixteenth century? 

7. Did Drake, in his voyages, have any other object than 

discovery ? 

8. What was the Spanish Armada? Against what country 

did the Armada sail ? What became of it ? 

9. Who was queen of England at this time? What honor 

did she confer on Drake ? 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 95 

10. By whom were the first attempts made to found an Eng- 

lish settlement in this country? When were these 
attempts made ? Why were they unsuccessful ? What 
became of the settlers who landed at Roanoke Island in 
1585? 

11. How was Raleigh treated by James I after the death of 

Queen Elizabeth? 

12. Upon what errand and to what country was Raleigh sent 

by King James? Was he successful in his purpose? 

13. How did Raleigh meet his death? Do you think he 

deserved his fate ? 

14. What part of North America did the French explore and 

settle? Who explored a large portion of what is now 
Canada ? Give an account of one of his battles with the 
Indians on Lake Champlain in 1609. 

15. What country of Europe became interested, at this time, 

in settling the Hudson River valley? What object did 
the Dutch have in sending settlers to this country? 
Where did they first settle? Was Holland considered 
an important country at this time ? Why ? 

16. Who explored the Hudson River for the Dutch ? 



CHAPTER III 

EARLY INHABITANTS OF AMERICA 

30. The Mound Builders. 

In the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and in West Virginia 
and some other parts of the United States, are curious 
hills and mounds. The shape and appearance of these 
prove that they are not works of nature, but were built 
by man. Some have the shape of beasts, others of birds 
and reptiles. One of them, in Ohio, is shaped like a 
snake. It is about one thousand feet in length. Some 
of them are in the shape of squares ; others are circular. 
They are of different heights, varying from three to ninety 
feet. Mounds have been found on the flat tops of which 
it seems that houses or forts have stood. Some of these 
mounds were evidently used as burial places, and some 
as places of defense in warfare. It appears that in these 
war mounds, wells were dug for water supply in case of 
siege. In some places acres of ground are covered by 
these man-made mounds. Embankments have been found 
so built as to inclose large spaces. These spaces may have 
been used for villages, the embankments serving for pro- 
tection against enemies. 

On digging into these mounds, human bones have been 

96 



EARLY INHABITANTS OF AMERICA 97 

found and also pieces of copper that look like beads. 
Weapons, tools, and pipes made of stone, and kettles, jugs, 
and other forms of potteiy have been uncovered. Pieces 
of cloth have also been found, showing that the arts of 
spinning and weaving were known to those who built the 
mounds. The age of these mounds must be very great, 
because in places vciy old trees have overgrown them, 
beneath which, in the ground, were the remains of very 
much older trees. Some writers think that they are at 
least two thousand years old. 

The race of people that built them is known as the 
" Mound Builders." It is thought that they lived before 
the time of the Indians who were found by the Spanish 
explorers, and were a different race. Some have said 
that they were more civilized than the Indians that came 
after them. 

Some writers declare that, in very early times, the 
Mound Builders were conquered and driven south into 
Mexico and Central America. This, they say, was done 
by those tribes of barbarous Indians whose descendants 
fought De Soto and other early Spanish explorers at a 
later time. They reason that the Aztecs of Mexico and 
the Mound Builders of the country farther to the north 
were anciently the same people. Other writers tell us 
that the Mound Builders, instead of being driven south, 
were driven north by their enemies from South and 
Central America. 

It is now the general belief that the Mound Builders 



98 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



were simply the race from which the North American 
Indians have sprung. 

31. The Pueblo Indians. 

The people that Friar Mark and Coronado found in the 
southwestern part of the United States were of a kind 
different from the common American Indians. They were 




Pueblo Village 

not so fierce in war as the barbarous Indians and did not 
delight in fighting. They were probably more like the 
early natives of old Mexico and Peru. They lived by 
tilling the soil. Sometimes hundreds of these natives 
lived together in houses forming a village or " pueblo." 
These houses were large and generally stood upon high 
ground. They were built in stories, each one smaller than 
the one below it. The whole building looked something 



EARLY INHABITANTS OF AMERICA 



99 




Moqui Indian Woman making Pottery 



like a huge terrace. There were no doors at the ground 
level. Entrance was made through small holes or win- 
dows reached by ladders. When the ladders were drawn 
up, these houses could be used as forts in case of attack 
by enemies. Some 
of these pueblos are 
still to be found in 
Arizona and New 
Mexico. From their 
way of living in 
pueblos these na- 
tives came to be 
known as " Pueblo 
Indians." 

The descendants 
of the Pueblo Indians living in those territories are to-day 
known as the Zunis (soon'-yees) and Moquis (mo'-kees). 
They have long known how to make cloth from cotton, 
and how to shape tools and ornaments of copper. 

32. The Cliff Dwellers. 

Other Indians, much like the Pueblos, but who perhaps 
lived before their time, were the Cliff Dwellers. 

In the southwestern part of the United States are 
found deep gorges, like huge ditches or trenches, made 
during many thousands of years by the wearing away of 
the soil and rocks by rivers. They are called canons. 
Some of them are miles in length and hundreds of feet 
LOfC 



100 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



deep. On the steep sides of these canons, sometimes 
at great heights above the beds below, the Cliff Dwellers 

made their homes. They 
built small stone dwell- 
ings wherever a nook or 
cranny in the sides of the 
cliff gave room for them. 
Remains of these small 
houses have been found. 
Pottery in curious shapes 
and other household 
things have been found 
in them. These dwellings 
were reached by climb- 
ing the steep cliffs, some 
of which were almost 
straight up and down and 
hardly gave a foothold. They were probably used as 
places to retreat to from enemies in times of war. As a 
race, the Cliff Dwellers have gone. 

33. The Aztecs. 

The Aztecs, found by Cortes in Mexico, lived there for 
centuries before his visit to their country. A people of a 
still earlier period, who were known as the Toltecs, also 
lived in the country we now know as Mexico. The 
Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas, or natives of Peru, were 
more nearly civilized than any other natives of the Ameri- 




The Square Tower in the Cliff 
Palace, Mesa Verde 



EARLY INHABITANTS OF AMERICA 



101 



can continent. What wc know of the Aztecs we have 
learned by a study of the ruins of their temples in Mexico 
and Yucatan, and of the pottery, tools, and weapons that 
have been found where they once lived. The Aztecs ap- 
pear to have come 
from the northern 
and western part 
of Mexico, and to 
have settled in and 
around what is now 
the city of Mexico. 
They made good 
roads, though they 
had no beasts of 
burden, and they 
also built large 
stone pipes through 
which water could 
flow for long dis- 
tances. Whatever 
they wished to 
take from place to 
place was carried 
by hand. Their 
women could spin and weave well enough to produce 
good cloth. They made head-dresses of bright-colored 
feathers. They also made mats, and they were very 
skillful in the art of pottery. They had axes, hatchets, 
and other tools made of copper. They made knives of a 




A Sacrifice before the Maya God Kukclkan 

From a bas-relief from Menchc-Tena at present in 
the British Museum, London 



102 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

very hard kind of volcanic glass known as obsidian. The 
weapons which they used were chiefly the javelin and the 
sword, but bows and arrows and lances were not un- 
known to them. Some of the large swords were made of 
wood with pieces of obsidian fixed along the edges. To 
protect themselves in battle they used leather shields and 
helmets. They sometimes ate the bodies of the enemies 
that they killed in battle. 

They worshiped hideous idols, many of which the 
Spaniards destroyed. Their temples were ornamented 
with a kind of picture writing, which could be read by 
those who understood it. Within these temples human 
beings were killed every year. 

Under the horrible cruelty of Spanish rule the Aztecs 
rapidly disappeared as a nation; and it is mainly from 
the ruins of their temples that we know that they once 
existed. 

34. The Indians of North America. 

The natives that the explorers found throughout the 
region now known as the United States have been called 
Indians ever since Columbus gave them that name. 
Where they came from is unknown. Some have thought 
that they at first came across Bering's Strait from Asia. 
It is known that the Indians lived on this continent for 
hundreds of years before the white men came. They 
were always more savage and warlike than the natives of 
Mexico or those of the islands of the West Indies. They 



EARLY INHABITANTS 01? AMERICA 103 

were tall and well made, and of a brown or cinnamon 
color. They had black, coarse, straight hair, high cheek 
bones, and black or dark brown eyes. Their feet and hands 
were small and well shaped. They were not as strong, 
perhaps, as the white men, but they were more lithe and 
active. They were tireless in the pursuit of game and in 
making war on their enemies. They could stand heat, 
cold, hunger, and even torture without complaint. They 
remembered kindnesses, but never forgave or forgot an 
insult or an injury. 

35. Mode of Living. 

Some of these Indians were savages. They had no 
fixed home, but traveled from place to place and lived by 
hunting and fishing. Other tribes, not so savage, had 
local homes. These Indians hunted, fished, and raised 
small crops of grain and vegetables. They grew maize 
or Indian corn, tobacco, squashes, and beans. The Indian 
women did all the hard work, while the men spent their 
time either in fighting their enemies or in hunting and 
fishing. According to the notions of the Indian brave, work 
was a thing beneath him. The Indian warrior at home 
was grave and silent, and showed neither curiosity nor feel- 
ing. His visitor was received with silence until he might 
choose to speak. 

The Indians lived in wigwams. These were made by 
sticking saplings or poles in the ground in a circle and 
bending in and binding their tops together, and covering 



104 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

this framework with skins and hides. A hole was left 
open at the top, through which the smoke from the fire 
on the ground at the center might go. At the bottom of 
the wigwam, a part of the covering was left unfastened so 
that it could be raised, or tin-own back, and thus serve 
as a door or entrance. 

The Iroquois Indians, living chiefly in what is now New 
York State, made a shelter or building that they called the 
" long-house," one of which was large enough for from 
thirty to fifty families. The framework of these houses 
was made of poles and was covered with the bark of trees. 
Inside, each house was divided into equal spaces, over 
each of which was a hole in the roof, through which smoke 
might pass out from the fires by which the food was 
cooked. Among the tribes in the western part of the 
countiy, houses were made in very much the same fashion. 
The only difference was that they were round in shape 
and were covered with clay. Generally, the wigwams or 
houses were in groups or villages. 

Government. 

A group of Indians who were related to some common 
ancestor formed a clan. A chief or sachem was chosen for 
each clan. The women as well as the men had a vote in 
this choice. A number of clans formed a tribe. Each 
tribe was ruled by a council of sachems. Each clan had 
the name of some bird or animal, such as eagle, turtle, 
buffalo, or wolf. A rude picture or image of this bird or 



106 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

animal was called the totem of the clan. The animal 
which the clan took as its totem was thought to be 
sacred and might not be killed. 

Language. 

Indians of the same clan spoke the same language, but 
among the members of a tribe there were differences in 
speech. These differences made for each tribe a dialect. 
There was no written language, but ideas were sometimes 
expressed in a sort of picture-writing. A picture of an 
arrow, for instance, would mean a warrior. The number 
of arrows would tell the number of warriors. The way in 
which they pointed was meant to show where a war party 
had gone. The meaning of these pictures, made upon 
birch bark or dried skin, was readily understood by the 
Indians. 

36. Religious Belief. 

The Indian did not worship idols as the Aztecs of Mexico 
did. They believed that after death the spirit of every 
brave would live forever in the Happy Hunting Ground. 
They believed in a Great Spirit, or Manitou, as they called 
him. They thought that the tempest, the thunder, and 
the lightning were signs of his wrath. To appease his 
anger they would make offerings of tobacco, throwing it to 
the winds or upon the raging waters. When sick, they 
called the medicine man. They thought that he had 
power to drive out the evil spirits which caused sickness. 

Before going to battle they would hold a war dance, in 



EARLY INHABITANTS OF AMERICA 107 

which, while circling around, they would boast and sing 
of their bravery, and in wild songs tell of past victories 
and ask the aid of the Great Spirit for further success. 

The Indians had no domestic animals except the dog, 
and sometimes, when, pressed by hunger, they ate him. 
They were greatly terrified when they first saw the horses 
of Narvaez and De Soto. 

They broiled meat by holding it over the fire on sharp- 
ened sticks. A mixture of corn and beans, boiled in stone 
kettles, made them a food, called succotash. They also ate 
fish which were got either by spearing or by using fish- 
hooks made of bone. In winter they wore the skins of 
deer and the fur of other animals, and moccasins of deer- 
skin. The bow and arrow and the stone hatchet served 
them as weapons. The arrowhead was made of flint and 
bound to the arrowshaft by thongs. After the coming 
of the white man they quickly took to the use of firearms 
and knives. 

37. Indian Warfare. 

In warfare they were cruel and treacherous. They 
never fought in the open, but skulked behind trees, some- 
times lying in hiding for days at a time, in order to strike 
an unexpected blow. They traveled swiftly and silently, 
and their aim was to surprise the enemy by a fierce and 
sudden attack. They took the scalps of those whom 
they killed, and the braveiy of a warrior was measured 
by the number of scalps he could show. Sometimes the 



108 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Indians put their prisoners to the most frightful torture, 
burning at the stake, with slow fire, being a common 
method. He was a great warrior who, in the agony of 
torture, uttered no groan or cry. At other times the 
prisoner was made to run for his life, between two long 
lines of warriors, armed with clubs and tomahawks, who 
struck at him as he passed. If he succeeded in getting 
through, his life might be spared. Now and then a pris- 
oner who showed great bravery was adopted into the 
tribe of his captors instead of being killed by torture. 

When about to take the warpath the Indian braves 
painted their faces with streaks of red, yellow, and blue, 
that their hideous appearance might terrify their enemies. 
When on the warpath they traveled long distances through 
forest and wilderness by hidden trails, known only to them- 
selves. The Indian was able to see signs of an enemy 
which a white man could not find. A broken twig, a 
fallen leaf, the faintest trace of a footprint in the 
ground, never escaped his keen eyes. He could see and 
swiftly follow the faintest trail for days at a time. He 
could also hear the slightest noise, and his sense of smell 
was almost as strong as that of a hound. He imitated 
the notes of birds and the calls and cries of animals 
so closely as to deceive the keenest listener. 

38. Industries. 

The women, or squaws, wove baskets and mats and baked 
clay into rude forms of pottery ; but perhaps the most use- 



EARLY INHABITANTS OF AMERICA 109 

ful articles made by the Indians were the birch-bark canoe 
and the snowshoe. The canoe was made of the bark of 
the white birch stretched over a veiy light frame, made of 
strips of hickory or ash. The birch bark was sewed to- 
gether with thread-like strips of hide, and the seams 
were covered with pitch from the spruce tree. The canoe 
was pointed at both ends and could be driven swiftly over 
the water by the skillful use of the paddle. In his canoe, 
the Indian traveled great distances on the waterways. It 
was so light that it could be easily carried overland, from 
one river or lake to another. 

The snowshoe was made by stretching deer hide over 
an oval-shaped frame of wood. The skin was fastened 
to the framework by thongs of deer-skin. It required 
much skill and practice to walk on snowshoes. It was 
only by their use, however, that the Indian could go 
about when the snow was deep. 

The money of the Indians was made of colored pieces of 
clam shell. These were polished and pierced and then 
strung like beads and woven into belts. When a treaty 
was made, belts of wampum, as this money was called, 
were exchanged in remembrance of the event. 

The Indians taught many of their rude arts to the 
whites. They showed them that to raise maize or Indian 
corn, in the forest, the trees must be killed, that their 
leaves should not keep out the sunlight, so needful to the 
growing plants. This was done by cutting off the bark 
in a circle around the trunk. This was easier to the 



110 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Indian than cutting the trees down with their stone axes. 
They taught the white man how to use snowshoes, and 
how to paddle the bark canoes without upsetting. They 
showed him how to follow trails, and how to learn the 
lessons that nature teaches in the wilderness. 

The great cause of trouble, between the red man and 
the white man, was the ownership and treatment of the 
land, upon which each depended, though in different 
ways. The Indian, to whom hunting and fishing for 
food was a life necessity, wanted the forests to remain. 
They afforded cover for the game on which he lived. 
The settlers, on the other hand, wanted clearings for 
homes and fields for farming, and they destroyed the for- 
ests to make them. Thus the near-by Indians had to 
fall back from the line of white settlement into the wilder- 
ness to get their living. This led them into wars with 
other tribes, who owned the land where they went. 
These drove them back to the whites, and it soon seemed 
to the red men whose homes were near the white stran- 
gers that they must drive the whites away or starve. 

39. Tribes. 

The most powerful tribes east of the Mississippi River 
were those of the Iroquois Confederacy. These masterful 
Indians conquered their enemies and prevented the French, 
in the St. Lawrence River region, from pushing south into 
the region which now forms the State of New York. 

The Algonquins, chiefly, held all the other territory 



EARLY INHABITANTS OF AMERICA 111 

from what is now Tennessee far into Canada. South of 
this region, from the Mississippi to the Atlantic coast, 
were the Mobilians or Maskokis. The Dakotas lived in 
the country west of the Mississippi River. These great 
nations were divided into numerous tribes. The Indians 
figured largely in the later history of this country, help- 
ing at different times both French and English, as those 
people fought each other. 

SUMMARY 

1. The Mound Builders were probably the ancestors of the 

present North American Indians. 

2. Some of the mounds were undoubtedly burial places for 

the dead. Others may have been used as forts or to 
inclose villages. 

3. They are found largely in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, 

and are of various kinds and shapes. 

4. The Pueblo Indians were skillful in making their peculiar 

houses. They were more civilized than the other Indians 
and tilled the soil. From them have come the Moquis 
and Zufiis of the present day. 

5. Somewhat like the Pueblos were the Cliff Dwellers, whose 

peculiar dwellings were on the steep sides of gorges and 
river canons. They have passed away as a race. 

6. The most highly civilized natives of the New World were 

the Incas of Peru and the Aztecs of Mexico. 

7. The Aztecs built temples, worshiped idols, and practiced 

human sacrifice. 

8. They made good roads and built long pipe lines for water. 

They made cloth and were skillful in making pottery, 
tools, and weapons. 

9. They were conquered by the Spaniards, under Cortes, early 

in the sixteenth century. 



112 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

10. The principal surviving race of the early inhabitants of the 

American continents are the North American Indians. 

11. People, called Indians, who are probably of a mixed race, 

live in Mexico, Central, and South America. 

12. The North American Indians still live in large numbers in 

certain portions of the United States. 

13. These Indians lived mainly by hunting and fishing, although 

they raised Indian corn and some vegetables. 

14. The Indians were good friends, but bitter enemies. They 

were cruel in their treatment of captives, scalped the 
enemies they killed, and tortured their prisoners. 

15. Their spoken language consisted of various dialects. They 

had no written language. 

16. They had no beasts of burden or domestic animals except 

the dog, until the horse was introduced by the Spanish. 
All the hard labor was done by the squaws. 

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 

1. Who were the mound builders ? Why were they so called? 

2. Where were these Indian mounds found ? Of what shapes 

were they? What has been discovered in them? What 
facts show that they were of great age? 

3. In what part of the country were Pueblo Indians found? 

What kind of houses did they build? What crops did 
they grow ? Are there any Pueblo tribes now living ? 

4. Where did the Cliff Dwellers build their houses ? Why did 

they choose such places for dwellings ? 

5. Where did the Aztecs live? Who was their king when 

Cortes conquered Mexico ? What weapons did they use ? 
Of what materials were their weapons made? Do you 
think they were cruel in some of their practices ? In what 
ways were they cruel ? Were they successful as builders ? 
What did they build ? Besides their weapons, what arti- 
cles did they make? 



EARLY INHABITANTS OF AMERICA 113 

6. At the time of the coming of the Spaniards to the mainland, 

what were the natives of the present United States called ? 
Why were they so called ? What was their appearance ? 
Can you tell how a wigwam was made and of what 
materials? Describe the "long house" of the Iroquois 
Indians. 

7. What was the wampum ? What was its use ? Why was the 

canoe useful to the Indians in their summer travel ? Why 
were the snowshoes needed by the Indians ? 

8. Upon what did the Indians depend for food ? What crops 

did they raise? 

9. What was the method of Indian warfare? How did they 

sometimes treat their captives? 
10. Name a few of the leading tribes of Indians in this country. 
Where did they live? 



CHAPTER IV 

HOW THE SPANISH PEOPLED AMERICA 

40. An Early Start. 

The Spaniards had over the French, English, Dutch, 
and Swedes a long start in making settlements in America. 
About fifty years before Jamestown was settled there 
were Spaniards living at St. Augustine in Florida and 
long before that they were living in the city of Mexico. 
The Spanish had been living at Santa Fe and along the 
Rio Grande for years before the Jamestown settlers 
landed. Before the people of any other nation came to 
America to stay Spanish settlements had become firmly 
fixed in the West Indies. The Spanish peopled the West 
Indies and Mexico and part of Central and South America. 

41. Broad Claims of Spain. 

Portugal and Spain were the earliest exploring nations. 
When the search for lands in the western part of the 
world began, they made an agreement under which they 
divided between themselves all the unfound lands of 
the earth, wherever they might be. They fixed upon a 
line north and south through the Atlantic Ocean. All 
unknown lands east of that were to go to Portugal and 

114 



HOW THE SPANISH PEOPLED AMERICA 115 

all west of it to Spain. They gave no thought to what 
other nations might do in the way of land finding, or 
what they might claim. 

North America with its islands lay west of the line, 
and for that reason and also because Spanish explorers 
found it, Spain claimed the whole of North America as 
her own. 

42. Spain's Claims Disputed. 

England was not willing to stand by and see Spain 
take the whole world for her own, neither was France 
nor Holland. Each of these nations sent its own men 
to hunt for a passage through or around North America 
to India. Each, on its own account, happened to find 
parts of the continent, and each nation claimed as its 
own that which its men had found. 

While the early Spanish explorers were busy in their 
efforts to explore and colonize the West Indies, Mexico, 
Florida, and the region of the lower Mississippi, and were 
pushing their way in Central and South America, Portu- 
gal was also busy in making explorations. For a long 
time her efforts were made to reach India by sailing 
around Africa. This was finally accomplished by Vasco 
da Gama, although Bartholomew Diaz rounded the 
Cape of Good Hope some ten years earlier. 

When Portugal employed Vespucius, the Florentine, 
to search out new lands in the New World, she gained 
the country we now call Brazil. This country lay to 



116 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

the east of the line which had been fixed as the boundary 
between lands to be claimed by Spain and those to be 
claimed by Portugal. Brazil was thus a Portuguese 
colony and so remained for years. It afterward became 
an empire, but is now a republic. 



CHAPTER V 

HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 

43. What France claimed at First. 

Verrazano and Cartier, sailing for France, both found 
the Newfoundland and Nova Scotia countries and the 
great St. Lawrence River. (See map, page 118.) Hence, 
Prance claimed the islands and the country back from 
the coast and all the land drained by the St. Lawrence 
River and its branches. No one knew how great that 
region was whose rainfall found its way to the sea through 
the great river, for no one had been over it. " How- 
ever long and wide it may be," said the king of France, 
" that land is ours. Frenchmen shall trade there and 
live there; French towns shall grow up there, and the 
country shall be called New France." Besides the St. 
Lawrence region, the French claimed what is now New 
England and the state of New York, but the Indians 
and the English kept them from living there. 

44. Why France did not people the Country Sooner. 

For more than fifty years after declaring that she 
owned the country, France could do but little in the way 
of peopling New France because there were wars at home 

117 



118 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 




The French Country in North America 



among her own people. But many Frenchmen, for 
themselves, sailed along the coast for fish, while others 
went into the forest for furs. In those days the northern 
part of North America was the richest fur country in 
the world. 

In 1608 Samuel Champlain made a settlement far up 
the river as a place to buy furs from the Indians, and 
that was the beginning of the present city of Quebec. 
Quebee was for many years an outpost or headquarters 
from which French priests went forth to preach to the 
Indians, and French trappers and traders to get furs. 
Champlain himself made long trips into the wilderness 
to search out the land for his master, the king. On one 
of these he went as far west as Lake Huron. 



HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 119 

45. The Fur Business. 

The early French visitors to America were not farmers 
looking for homes. They came for furs. They wasted 
no time seeking for gold. The Spanish might find it, 
the English might waste their time searching for it, but 
the gold they could get for furs was enough for the French. 
The people of Europe were eager to buy at high prices 
all the American furs that might be brought to them. 
All the colonists in North America, except the Spaniards, 
depended more or less on the sale of furs for a living ; but 
the French in Canada and the Dutch just south of them 
made fur getting their main business. 

46. The French made Friends of the Indians. 

The French claimed the country that their explorers 
found, and that their trappers and missionaries traveled 
over, but, unlike the English and Spanish, they did not 
for many years send parties of emigrants to found colo- 
nies and people the country. Such settlements as they 
founded were only trading posts, each with a rude fort, 
where Indians might come to bring furs and listen to 
the teachings of the missionary priests. The English, 
where they settled, had but little use for the Indians, 
and did not try to make friends with them. They wanted 
open fields for farming, they cut down the forest trees 
to make them, and this made the red man angry be- 
cause it spoiled his hunting grounds. They felt above 
the Indians and rudely drove them away. For these 



120 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

reasons, as a rule, the Indians hated the English. But 
the French did not care for farming and depended oni 
the forest for furs quite as much as the Indians did for' 
game. So they did no harm to the hunting grounds 
and thus kept the good will of the natives. It was for 
their best interests to make friends with them and use 
them so that they might get furs and gain control of: 
the country as against the people of other nations. They' 
never made slaves of the Indians, as the Spanish did,, 
nor insulted nor abused them as the English did, but; 
made treaties with the tribes so that they could go about 
among them in safety, and even call upon them for help 
in case of war. 

Traders and priests went forth together, and where- 
ever they went they set up a cross with the arms of France 
nailed to it, to show that they claimed the land for France.. 
They left these tokens as far south as the Kennebec River v 
and on the Hudson where Albany now stands. 

The Indians, in the region of the St. Lawrence River 
where the French began to settle, were a strong and 
hardy race. The severe winters made them so. They 
were fierce fighters, very different from those natives 
far to the south who suffered so much from the Spaniards. 
They were strong in mind as well as in body, and the 
French were wise in seeking their good will. 

The French trappers went among the Indians as good 
fellows among friends. They lived with them, hunted 
with them, played games with them, amused them, 



HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 121 

and not a few married Indian women. The priests 
treated them as fellow-beings and strove earnestly to 
save their souls by bringing them into the church. No 
braver or more devoted men ever lived than the priests 
of the Society of Jesus, and those of other orders, who 
toiled and died in the early days of the French in 
America among the northern Indians. Both trappers 
and priests took pains to learn the speech of the savages 
and among them were many who could speak in several 
Indian tongues. 

47. The Algonquins and the Iroquois. 

The Indians north of the St. Lawrence River and 
those great lakes which feed it were known as the Algon- 
quins. They became the friends of the French. South 
of the St. Lawrence and the lakes dwelt another tribe, 
called the Iroquois. These were of five tribes, or nations, 
joined together, and were known as the Five Nations. 
They lived along the Mohawk Valley and throughout the 
rest of what is now the state of New York, and in the 
northern part of what is now Pennsylvania and Ohio. 
They were the most powerful Indians in North America. 

The Iroquois, like the Algonquins, were fighters, and 
between the two there was war. The St. Lawrence 
River and Lakes Ontario and Erie were the boundary 
line between them. The French wanted to be friendly 
with each, but they could not. To be the friend of one 
was to be the enemy of the other, and they had to choose. 



i22 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

48. The Little Fight that changed History. 

Champlain wished to work south and make trading 
and mission posts in the country lying west of the Hudson 
River. But this was where the Iroquois lived, and they 
did not want the French among them. To go there he 
must fight his way. It seemed to be a wise plan to join 
the Algonquins and go down into the country of the 
Iroquois and fight it out. He thought that with the 
help of the Algonquins he could tame the wild Iroquois, 
and then the French would be masters of that country. 
So a party of Algonquins and French started south, in 
1609, to make war on the Iroquois. The Indians led 
the way, and took Champlain to the long narrow lake 
which now bears his name. He was the first white man 
that ever saw it. For hundreds of years the Indians 
had known how to reach the Atlantic Ocean from the 
St. Lawrence by following the water south. They 
would go in canoes from the St. Lawrence River down 
through Lake Champlain and Lake George and would 
carry their canoes from there into the Hudson. Then 
they would paddle down the river to the sea. 

The fleet of boats and canoes worked south along the 
lake until they reached a point very near where Crown 
Point now stands, and then Champlain and his men 
and the Algonquins saw the Iroquois. They landed, 
and made ready for the fight. Next morning the war 
parties drew near each other, the Iroquois feeling sure 
that they were going to win. When they came within 



HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 123 

bowshot, the ranks of the Algonquins opened and 
Champlain stood forth with his gun in his suit of steel 
armor. It was loaded with four bullets. Resting the 
rude piece on a forked stick to steady it, he took careful 
aim at a group of the Iroquois and fired. A chief and 
two other Indians fell. 

The enemy saw the flash and the smoke and heard 
the noise. They had never seen nor heard of such a 
thing as a gun. They saw no arrow or dart fly through 
the air, yet there lay three of their best warriors slain 
and bleeding. They could not understand it, and, 
being like all other Indians great believers in unearthly 
things, they thought that some strange power was fight- 
ing for the Algonquins. While they stood in doubt, 
one of Champlain's men fired another shot, and another 
warrior fell. It was enough. They turned and fled, 
followed by the Algonquins. Thus the great Iroquois 
were beaten. They learned later how and by whom 
the shame of running away was put upon them; and 
from that day they hated the French with a hatred that, 
passing down through sons and grandsons, was never 
quenched. Very soon they got guns from the Dutch 
on the Hudson and learned how to use them, and then 
they were ready to fight the French, which they did for 
many years. 

The way was still open for the French to put out their 
line of trading posts and missions to Lake Huron and 
beyond; but from the day of the Champlain fight it was 



124 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

death to any Frenchman to go south into the country 
of the Iroquois. 

When Champlain fired that shot, he changed the 
history of America; for as it happened, at the very time 
when he was attacking the Iroquois in the north, the 
crew of the Dutch ship under Hudson were in the Hudson 
River, soon to be followed by others who were to make 
friends with the Iroquois in the south. Could the French 
have made friends with these Indians as they did with 
the Algonquins, they might have held Manhattan and 
the Hudson River, r and the rest of what later became 
the state of New York might have been French in- 
stead of Dutch. Not only this; the French, through 
the friendship of the Iroquois, might have prevented 
the settlement by the English of the New England 
coast region later. 

As it was, the Dutch soon settled the Hudson River 
region and became as friendly with the Iroquois as the 
French were with the Algonquins. By trading guns to 
them and teaching them their use, the Dutch made 
them so strong that the French could never break through 
their country as Champlain had hoped to do. 

Another bar against the French was put up a few 
years later when the English settled New England. 
White population grew very much faster in the Dutch 
and English settlements than it did in those of the 
French. The time came when the French had to fight 
to keep the English out of the St. Lawrence region. 



HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 125 

Indeed, they finally lost that country to the English, 
as we shall yet learn. 

At the time of this small but important battle in the 
woods near Lake Champlain, England had done but 
little to make good her claims to North America. She 
had a few starving settlers in Jamestown, but that was 
not a strong point of control like Quebec, and it seemed 
almost certain that the colony would be given up. The 
French had a much better hold, for they had the St. 
Lawrence, a great gateway to a mighty empire in the 
west, and were seeking the control of the Indian passage- 
way for trade by Lake Champlain, Lake George, and the 
Hudson River. The Iroquois, or Five Nations, checked 
the French, and, though they did not know it, they saved 
North America for the English. 

49. Nicolet. 

In working west, the French would have passed south 
of Lake Erie if they could. But the Iroquois were 
there. The trappers and missionaries seeking the west 
had to go by way of Lake Huron across the country 
from Lake Ontario, or by the Ottawa River. For years 
they worked their way slowly. In 1634, at a time when 
Jamestown had become a prosperous colony, and after 
the English had settled Massachusetts and Connecticut 
and were planting a new colony in Maryland; Jean 
Nicolet (Nee-ko-lay), a French fur trader of Quebec, 
went west. He made his way to Lake Michigan and 



126 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



into Green Bay on the farther side, and still farther into 
what is now Wisconsin. When he came back, he told 
how far he had gone, and said he had seen a river that 
flowed southward, which the Indians said turned west- 
ward away from the lake. He reasoned that it must 
flow down a western slope to an ocean, even as the St. 




Trappers crossing the Lakes 

Lawrence and other rivers flowed easterly to the Atlantic 
Ocean. The French well understood that the land of 
the continent lay in great slopes, and they thought that 
Nicolet's river followed a slope that must lead to a sea. 
They said that sea must lie on the other side of America, 
and that beyond the sea must be India. 

The French had never given up their purpose to find 
a way across America to India. Many of them believed 



HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 127 

that up the St. Lawrence and through the hikes and 
thence westward by the river which Nicolet had found 
was the long-sought way. " We will push our line of 
posts west of Lake Michigan," they said, " and perhaps 
we shall find the way to the Great South Sea which 
Balboa saw." 

50. Marquette and Joliet. 

A mission was founded on the strait through which 
Lake Superior sends its waters into Lake Huron more 
than thirty years after Nicolet told his story. It was 
founded at a place of falls, by Father Marquette. He 
called it The Falls of St. Mary. Not far from where 
Lake Huron and Lake Michigan are joined together 
by the Strait of Mackinac, he founded another. Both 
points were well chosen, for both straits swarmed with 
a fine fish called the whitefish, and Indians used to 
come there from distant points to catch them. These 
missions were now the farthest outposts of the French. 
As yet, they had not moved south to explore the 
country. 

The Indians that came to sell furs and to fish told Mar- 
quette that there was a very large river farther west that 
flowed to the sea. He remembered the story told by Nico- 
let, many years before, and thought that the river the 
Indians talked about must be the one Nicolet had 
mentioned. He often thought he would like to search 
for it. 



128 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Nicolet's tale had not been forgotten in Quebec. In 
1673 Frontenac, the governor of New France, sent a fur 
trader, named Louis Joliet (zhol'-yay), to find the river, 
and he asked Marquette to join in the search. 

Marquette and Joliet went to Green Bay and from 
there westward to the Wisconsin River, just as Nicolet 
had done. In their canoes the party paddled down 
the river through a fine country until it led them to 
a very large stream, the one the Indians had told about. 
But its course was to the south. 

They let the current carry them, taking note of the 
country, which was mostly prairie. They saw deer, elk r 
buffalo, wild turkeys, and other game in great numbers 
as they floated along, and they also saw Indians. Some- 
times these were friendly and sometimes they were not. 
Sometimes the Frenchmen slept ashore at night, but 
oftener they slept in their canoes far out in the river, 
for safety. 

They came to a place where a mighty stream of yellow 
water came from the west, carrying so much soil that its 
water was muddy. It was a larger river than the one 
they had come down. It made the river more than 
twice as large as it was before. They were in doubt 
which stream might be called a branch of the other. 
The yellow river was the Missouri. It had been carrying 
mud from the north to the south, just as they saw it, for 
thousands of years, and it is doing the same to-day. 

They passed many places where streams came in to 



HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 129 

swell the current, some on one side and some on the 
other. From the east came a great river, the one which 
we know as the Ohio. Beyond that, they found the 
mouth of the Arkansas, flowing from the west, and they 
went a little farther. 

They knew they were on one of the great rivers of the 




Painting by J. ft. Marchaml. 

Discovery of the Mississippi by Pere Marquette, 1G73 

world, and perhaps the greatest one of all. Since it 
flowed south rather than west, as they had expected it 
to, they thought that it must have its outlet in the Gulf 
of Mexico. If it did, they knew it must be the same 
river that the Spaniard, De Soto, had discovered more 
.than a hundred and thirty years before. 



130 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

They now began to fear the Spaniards, for they knew 
they must be nearing the Gulf of Mexico, and must be 
in the country claimed by Spain. They did not know 
that the Spanish then had no settlements on the Missis- 
sippi. To be caught exploring land which the Spaniards 
claimed was to meet death, for the Spaniards were far 
more to be feared than the Indians. Not daring to go 
farther, they turned back. 

They had solved the question whether the westward- 
flowing streams beyond the Great Lakes emptied into 
the Pacific. They did not. Their waters fed the Mis- 
sissippi and thus at last found the Gulf of Mexico, which 
was a part of the same ocean into which the St. Lawrence 
poured its waters. They reasoned that beyond the 
family or system of rivers which came into the Missis- 
sippi from the west, there must be a ridge which ran 
from north to south where these rivers rose. They were 
right, for there is such a ridge. It is the great backbone 
of the continent, the Rocky Mountains, the same moun- 
tain range that Balboa climbed over when he came in 
sight of the Pacific Ocean. They said there must be 
a slope beyond that ridge which led to the Pacific, that 
great sea upon which Magellan and Drake had sailed 
many years before. In this they were right, for there is 
such a slope, though it is short and steep. They said 
that it would be useless to try to find a waterway across 
the continent by which to reach India, and in this too 
they were right. Most important of all, they found the 



HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 131 

greatest and richest region of all the world lying ready 
to be claimed by France, through their being first to see 
it, if only it could be explored and settled. 

Their return was toilsome. The current that had 
helped them now hindered them. To overcome it and 
make head against it tried their strength very much. 
But, day after day, they crept along until they came to 
a stream which flowed from the northeast. This, 
the Indians told them, had its source near to the same 
great lake from which they at first started to find the Wis- 
consin River. It was the Illinois. 

At last they reached the point where two streams 
join to make the river, and they took the one from the 
north. This led them near to Lake Michigan, which 
they reached in safety. They built a cabin at the very 
point where now stands one of the great cities of the 
world, Chicago. Marquette fell sick here and was carried 
in a canoe across Lake Michigan, where, on its eastern 
shore, he died and was buried in the forest. 

51. La Salle. 

In 1673, when he sent Marquette and Joliet to search 
for the great river, Frontenac, the governor of New France, 
built a fort at the northeastern end of Lake Ontario 
which was called Fort Frontenac. Where the fort stood 
now stands the city of Kingston. Soon after the fort 
was finished he put in command of it a man named La 
Salle. Like most of the French posts, this one Was well 



132 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



placed for the Indians to reach with their packs of furs, 
and the fur trade was great and profitable. 
La Salle, who could speak several Indian languages, 

was fond of talking with 
the Indians who came 
to the place to trade. 
He got them to tell about 
the parts of the country 
that they lived in. In 
this way he learned much 
that he thought was im- 
portant, and after a while 
he went to France to get 
the king's help for a long 
trip into the middle of 
the continent. He came 
back to Fort Frontenac 
in 1678 and at once sent 
an able Italian, named 
Tonti, to build a fort on 
the river which carries 
the water of the Great Lakes from Erie into Ontario. 
It is this river, flowing over the ledge of rock between 
the lakes, that forms Niagara Falls. Tonti built the 
fort above the falls, on the Lake Erie level. After he 
finished it, he built a little vessel and launched her on 
Lake Erie. She was the first vessel that ever bore sails 
on the great American lakes. He called her the Griffin. 




La Salle 



HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 133 

52. The First and Only Voyage of the " Griffin." 

Next year, 1679, La Salle sailed in the Griffin the 
length of Lake Erie and through the narrow waterway 
where now stands Detroit. He passed north, into and 
through Lake Huron, and through the Strait of Mackinac 
into Lake Michigan, and across that- to Green Bay. He 
was now at the point where Nicolet had visited the 
Indians thirty-five years before, and from which Mar- 
quette and Joliet had set out when they went to find 
the Mississippi. 

From Green Bay the Griffin was sent back with a cargo 
of furs bought from the Indians. She was to deliver 
the furs at Fort Tonti and return to Green Bay with 
supplies. It was thought that the Griffin would be 
very useful on the lakes, for they could be easily navi- 
gated. There is now more shipping on those lakes 
than there was in all the world at the time when the 
Griffin sailed. 

Instead of following the course taken by Nicolet and 
Joliet, La Salle and his party took canoes at Green Bay 
and paddled south on Lake Michigan. He made his 
way to the southeastern part of the lake and went up 
a little river which he called the St. Joseph. It is in 
Michigan. From there the party crossed a low country 
full of rivers and swamps, sometimes paddling on the 
streams and sometimes carrying their canoes from one 
to another. They went westward around the south 
end of Lake Michigan and, reaching a branch of the 



134 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Illinois River, followed it until it led them into the Illinois, 
up which Marquette and Joliet had passed, on their 
return. 

53. Fort Crevecoeur. 

At a point a little more than a hundred miles from 
the lake they came to a broad widening of the river, like 
a lake, and there they stopped and built a fort. They 
called it Fort Crevecoeur, or Fort Heartbreak, and the 
word well expressed their sorrow, for it was the dead of 
winter now, 1680. They were far from home and knew 
not when or how they should return. It was meant that 
a vessel should be built here and the Griffin was to 
bring the materials for it as far as she could come. 

They waited here for news of the return of the Griffin, 
but none came. After a while, La Salle and a few men 
set out to look for her. They struck across the country 
to Lake Michigan, and from there they went east by 
short cut to the west end of Lake Erie. Here they got 
canoes and paddled the length of the lake to Fort Tonti. 
They could learn nothing of the Griffin. She was lost; 
but how, when, or where she was wrecked no man has 
ever known. 

With a party of Frenchmen and Indians, La Salle now 
returned to Fort Crevecoeur. He found it in ruins. 
Hearing of this party of Frenchmen, the vengeful Iroquois 
had traveled hundreds of miles to reach the fort and had 
destroyed it and had killed or driven away the men. 



HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 135 

When La Salle reached Green Bay he found that those 
who escaped were there. 

54. La Salle's Second Trial. Reaches Mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi River. 

In 1G82, which was at the time William Penn was 

building the city of Philadelphia, La Salle was again 



MB**.' 


ymm^^f^Km IBS WLM 

M ! MLVmmmFt£M%'^ 









Painting by J. X. Marchand. 

L.v Salle at tiik Mouth of thb Mississippi, a.d. 1682 

searching the Mississippi Valley. This time he succeeded. 
The party reached the great stream and followed it be- 
yond where Marquette and Joliet had gone, clear to the 
salt water of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Regardless of any claims that the Spanish might hold. 
La Salle planted a cross and nailed to it the arms of 



136 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



France and declared that all the land drained by the 
Mississippi with all its branches east and west belonged 
to France. To the great domain he gave the name of 
his king, Louis XIV, and called it Louisiana. France 
now claimed, as against all nations, the greatest and by 
far the most valuable part of North America. 




Painting by J. N. Marchand. 

Hennepin at the Falls of St. Anthony, 1680 

The French were not content to search out the course 
of the Mississippi to the south. In 1680 Father Hen- 
nepin was sent by La Salle to follow its windings north- 
ward to its source. He went up as far as boats could go, 
stopping only when he reached some great falls which he 
named the Falls of St. Anthony. In later years, the great 



HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 137 

cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have grown up there, 
and the water power of the falls is now used for the making 
of many thousands of barrels of flour every day. 

55. La Salle's Third Trial. His Death. 

La Salle could not be idle. He went to France and 
told the king what he had done. In 1684 he went forth 
for the king to make settlements along the coast of the 
Gulf of Mexico. He had four ships and about three 
hundred men. He had bad luck. Instead of going to 
the mouth of the river, the company landed four hundred 
miles west of the right place, on the coast of what is now 
the state of Texas. There they built a fort. A vessel 
was wrecked. The jealous and treacherous captain of 
the ships ran away with two others, and hardship and 
disease carried off his men. The Indians began to mur- 
der men of the party, and before long there were only 
about fifty left. 

Anxious to reach the Mississippi and the Illinois 
country, La Salle started overland, in 1687, with some 
of his men. The men were heartsick and sullen and they 
blamed him for their troubles. On the way one of them 
murdered him. Thus died the great French hero who 
had set France in a fair way to be the greatest nation in 
the world. 

The Spanish had no mind to give up to the French the 
country they had first explored. They soon found the 
settlement La Salle had planted, and they killed or made 



138 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

prisoners all of the Frenchmen that the Indians had not 
destroyed. Spain claimed nearly all of North America, 
and very strongly claimed that part on the Gulf of 
Mexico. It was not unlikely that war might sometime 
come between France and Spain over the Louisiana 
country. 

Though as yet England had not done much to 
strengthen her title, she claimed that the country held 
by her colonies on the Atlantic extended back to the 
west clear to the Pacific. She said that all within that 
broad belt belonged to her, no matter what the Spanish 
or the French had done to search it out. " It makes no 
difference," said Englishmen, " whether subjects of 
England have ever set foot on that land or not; her 
Cabots have visited its Atlantic coast and her Drake its 
Pacific coast and all between belongs to England." 

56. King William's War. 

From causes that did not concern America, there 
came a war in Europe between England and France, 
and the king of France thought it a good time to make 
trouble for the English in America. He ordered Fron- 
tenac, governor of Canada, to march against the New 
York country, which had long since passed from the 
Dutch to the English and was now an English province. 
He meant to take it and make it French, thus separating 
the eastern English colonies from those south of New 
York. It was a good scheme, if it could be carried out. 



HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 139 

It would have given the French the Hudson River and 
the Mohawk Valley as a passway to the west. The 
English had many more men in America than the French, 
but the French could call many Indians to the field to 
help them. 

Frontenac prepared to carry out his king's plan. But 
the Iroquois Indians saw their chance and attacked 
Canada, and this kept Frontenac busy at home. Unable 
to send an army against New York, he began to send 
small parties of French and Algonquins to attack out- 
lying English settlements. The savages were allowed 
to fight in their own fashion, and they murdered women 
and children whenever they could. In this way the 
people of Schenectady, in New York, and many towns 
in New England, were horribly treated. 

The people of New York and New England fought 
the Canadians and Indians with good effect, but the war 
closed in Europe and in America in 1697, leaving things 
in America about as they had been before. 

It was an understood rule among the nations of Europe, 
that to make a good claim to a country based on dis- 
covery, the nation making the claim must settle that 
country. So, knowing the value of the country south 
of the Great Lakes, France tried to make settlements 
there. She tried to get many thousands of her own 
people to emigrate to the Ohio Valley, but the French 
were always slow to leave their own land, and the plans 
failed, 



140 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

57. The French on the Gulf of Mexico. 

In 1698 a man named Iberville sailed from France with 
two ships, to plant colonies on the Gulf of Mexico near 
the mouth of the Mississippi River, as La Salle had tried 
to do. He spent several months searching the coast for 
good places, and at last made a settlement at Biloxi. 

Thus, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the 
French, by settlements on the St. Lawrence and the Great 
Lakes and on the Gulf of Mexico, claimed the land that 
lay between. That area is now a large part of the United 
States. 

The Spanish had not followed up their discoveries. 
They had only Florida and Mexico by settlement, and 
some missions in what is now known as California. The 
English held by settlement the ocean slope from the 
Alleghany Mountains which rose as a wall to keep them 
out of the great inside valley. 

France had the best portion. She controlled both 
the northern outlet, the St. Lawrence, and the southern 
one, the Mississippi. There were no railroads in those 
days, nor even wagon roads worth mentioning. Travel 
was by water and the French held the two great water- 
ways of the continent. All the trade in furs and other 
valuable goods between North America and Europe 
was in their hands, except that of the Atlantic slope. 
New France bade fair to be worth a hundred times old 
France in the future, and the French knew it. The 
coming century was full of promise to France, 



HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 141 

58. The French Chain of Forts. 

In 1701, the French made a settlement on the strait 
that connects Lake Erie with Lake Huron which has 
since grown to be Detroit, and another on the Gulf of 
Mexico, more than a thousand miles away, which has 
grown to be the city of Mobile. They began the carry- 
ing out of a plan to plant settlements and forts in 
a chain from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico. Of 
course, these were to be along the waterways, since 
there were no other routes of travel in a country so 
new. While there was present peace with England, 
the French had no doubt that they would yet have 
to fight for their ground, and they were preparing for 
the trial of arms. 

59. Queen Anne's War. 

In Europe, King Louis XIV of France was plotting 
against England and Holland, and in 1702 war broke 
out again. King William of England was dead, and in 
his place reigned Queen Anne. Again the Indians were 
set on by the French of Canada to ravage English settle- 
ments in New England. Some towns in Massachusetts 
and Maine were attacked, and women and children were 
killed. Spain helped France in the contest. A fleet of 
French and Spanish ships attacked Charleston, South 
Carolina, but were driven off. The war lasted until 
1713, and when peace was made, France had to give up 
to England Nova Scotia, the Hudson Bay region, and 



142 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

the Newfoundland fisheries. This war is known in 
history as Queen Anne's War. 

Mobile was the chief city of the French in the south 
until New Orleans took its place. That city was founded 
in 1718, and five years later it was made the capital 
of the great French Louisiana. The Duke of Orleans 
was then ruler of France, and the city was named after 
him. It was so placed as to command the trade of the 
Mississippi River. 

SUMMARY 

1. France founded her claims to the St. Lawrence River 

region on the voyages of Verrazano and Cartier. 

2. Champlain first got foothold in the New World for France. 

He founded Quebec, 1608. 

3. The French engaged in the fur trade. They remained 

friendly with the Indians. 

4. Champlain defeated the Iroquois Indians, thus making 

them the enemies of the French. This prevented the 
French from making settlements to the south along the 
Hudson River. 

5. The French made explorations to the west along the 

country of the Ottawa River and the Great Lakes. 

6. Jean Nicolet traveled as far west as Lake Michigan and 

Wisconsin, 1634. 

7. Missions were founded on the Strait of Mackinac and Falls 

of St. Mary by Father Marquette. 

8. Father Marquette and Louis Joliet made an expedition 

down the Mississippi River, 1673. 

9. La Salle finally reached the Gulf of Mexico, 1682. 

10. French settlements were made on the Gulf of Mexico. 



HOW THE FRENCH PEOPLED AMERICA 143 

11. French settlements and forts were built along the Great 

Lakes. 

12. Troubles between France and England led in this country 

to King William's War and Queen Anne's War. 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 

1. What part of this country did France claim, owing to 

the voyages of Verrazano and Cartier? 

2. Why did not France sooner settle the regions which she 

had discovered in the New World? 

3. Who made the settlement at Quebec? When? 

4. What was the chief business of the early French settlers? 

5. Why were the Indians chiefly friendly with the French? 

6. What tribes of Indians were the enemies of the French? 

Why? 

7. Give an account of the journey of Jean Nicolet. Of 

Father Marquette and Louis Joliet. 

8. What other great French explorer went as far south as 

the Gulf of Mexico ? 

9. Why was his attempt to found colonies near the mouth 

of the Mississippi not successful? 

10. Tell about King William's War. 

11. After the voyages of Marquette and La Salle, what por- 

tions of this country did the French claim? 

12. Give an account of Queen Anne's War. 



CHAPTER VI 

HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 
60. Jamestown. 

For nearly twenty years after the landing of John 
White and his party nothing was done by England to 
settle the region around Roanoke Island. The world 
was six years into the seventeenth century when two 
companies, made up of wealthy English merchants, got 
leave from King James I to start settlements in Amer- 
ica. One of these was called the Plymouth Company 
and the other, the London Company. 

The lands that were to be settled by the Plymouth 
Company lay along the coast from near the mouth of 
the Hudson River on the south to the Bay of FUndy on 
the north. The London Company was to settle between 
the mouth of the Potomac- and the mouth of the Cape 
Fear River. (See map, page 154.) 

In December, 1606, the London Company sent three 
ships and one hundred and five men, under command of 
Captain Newport, to make a settlement at Roanoke 
Island. One of this company was Captain John Smith, 
a man who had seen much of the Old World and whose 
coming, to the New World was a search for adventure. 

144 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 145 

He had been an active soldier and had passed through 
many trials and dangers. Once, when he was fighting 
the Turks in Austria, he was taken prisoner and made 




Painting t> y P. Vim Schiht, N. P. (J., London. 

Jambs I 



a slave. After a time he killed his master and got away. 
Making his way to England, he was glad to join the party 
of emigrants just then starting for America. By so 



146 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

doing he thought he could see still more of the wild life 
he liked so well. He made a wise choice, for he was to 
become a leading man in the settlement. On the voyage, 
some of the company became jealous of him and said 
that he meant to get control of the settlement and make 
himself king. On this foolish charge he was treated as 
a prisoner during the latter part of the time of passage, 
but when land was reached he was set free. 

The ships entered Chesapeake Bay and passed up 
a broad river, which the company named the James, 
in honor of the king. The capes on either side of the 
bay they named Cape Charles and Cape Henry, in honor 
of the king's sons. Giving up their purpose of settling 
on Roanoke Island, these people landed on a point of 
land about fifty miles from the mouth of the river. The 
narrow strip that joined it to the shore has since been 
washed away and now the site of the settlement is an 
island. It was chosen because the water was deep 
enough for a ship to moor to a tree on the shore. Gos- 
nold, one of the wisest of the party, told them that the 
place was unfit, but he was not heeded. It was now 
May, 1607, and a settlement was begun which was called 
Jamestown. It was the first long-lived English settle- 
ment in America. 

A few days after the landing had been made, Newport 
and Smith went up the river to visit Powhatan, the 
chief of the Indians, living near its headwaters. They 
were kindly treated by him and made friends with him. 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 147 

While they were away the Indians near the settlement 
became angry at some ill treatment by the Englishmen, 




From engraving In the " Bittorj »»t Virginia," 1 Lonos i.it»i:u\ 
Captain John Smith 



and a party of about two hundred attacked the camp. 
The fight was short and fierce and the Indians were 
driven off. 



148 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

61. Sickness and Death. 

In June Captain Newport went back to bring more 
men and supplies. Before the summer was over one 
half of the men of Jamestown had sickened and died. 
The governor, Wingfield, stole the food of his half-fed 
companions and was getting ready to run away when 
his evil conduct was found out. 

62. Smith has an Adventure. 

The colonists were told when they left England that 
they must search for a passage through America to India. 
So, after the settlement was made, they talked the matter 
over. It seemed likely that a way might be found by 
following up some of the rivers that flowed into the James 
from the west. They thought that beyond the sources 
of these they would be likely to find the beginnings of 
some that flowed west into the sea on the other side of 
America. So they sent Smith to find them. .He, with 
two white men and two Indians, started in a canoe up 
the Chickahominy River. It ended in a swamp. 

Taking an Indian for a guide and leaving the rest of 
his party with the canoe, he went on to search for a river 
flowing west. He had gone but a short way when the 
Indians attacked him. There was a large party of them 
and they pushed him hard. To shield himself from their 
arrows he tied his Indian guide to his left arm, for he 
knew they would not shoot at him if there was great 
danger of hitting the Indian. Then he began to work 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 149 

his way back. He killed three of them, but was at last 
overpowered and taken prisoner. While he was defend- 
ing himself, the two white men with the canoe were set 
upon by another party of Indians and killed. 

As his captors were about to put him to death, he 
caught their attention by holding up the little compass 
that he carried. They looked at it and in watching the 
quivering of the little needle in it, they, for the time, for- 
got their anger. It is likely that they felt that the man 
who could kill three of them so easily, and who carried 
such a wonderful little charm, might be more than 
human and that they should be careful about trying to 
kill him. 

They led him from village to village as a show for the 
women and children, and at last brought him to Pow- 
hatan. The old chief remembered him and could hardly 
say whether he should be killed or not. It was several 
days before the Indians, after much talk, decided to put 
Smith to death. During this time the chief's daughter, 
a very young girl named Pocahontas, had taken a strong 
liking to the prisoner. 

When the time came to take his life, Smith was bound 
and placed on his back with his head on a block of stone. 
While the old chief looked on, a brawny Indian came 
forward with a stone battle-ax and raised the weapon 
for the blow that was to dash out the white man's brains. 
At that instant, Pocahontas rushed forward and threw 
herself before the battle-ax, demanding that Smith's 




Painting by V. Nehlig. 

Pocahontas saves the Life oe Captain Smith 



150 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 151 

life be spared. Such was Powhatan's love for his child 
that he granted her wish. 

A few weeks later the Indians let Smith go, and he 
went back to Jamestown. Some of the settlers who were 
jealous of him caused his arrest, saying that he was to 
blame for the death of the two men whom the Indians 
killed while he was being taken prisoner. But, in a few 
days, Newport got back from England with more settlers 
and he set him free. Soon after this Smith was made 
governor of the colony. 

Newport brought with him from England about one 
hundred and twenty more men for the settlement. 
These newcomers, like those who had come at first, 
would not do the rough work of making homes for them- 
selves in the wilderness, but spent their time in a foolish 
hunt for gold. Smith then made a rule that those who 
would not labor should not eat. He made every man 
toil a certain number of hours each day. When food 
ran short, he got more from the Indians, and he was the 
only man in the settlement who could. More people 
for the colony were brought over by Captain Newport 
during this year. These were no better than those who 
had come before, except that among them were a few 
women. 

A new grant of land was made to the London Company 
in 1609. Under this grant, settlements could be made 
for two hundred miles north, and the same distance 
south, of the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. This grant 



152 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

gave to the company all the land west of its line of coast 
from sea to sea. A larger number of settlers were sent 
from England during this year, and Lord de la Warr 
(Delaware) was appointed governor of Virginia. 

63. "The Starving Time." 

Before Lord Delaware got there, Smith, who had been 
hurt by an explosion of gunpowder, returned to Eng- 
land (1609). He never came back to Jamestown, but did 
in 1614 explore the New England coast. It was bad 
for the colony that he was aWay. Trouble with the In- 
dians began, and corn and provisions could not be had. 
The following winter (1609-1610) is known as " the 
starving time." When Smith left Jamestown, there were 
nearly five hundred people in the settlement. By the sum- 
mer of the next year, sickness and hunger had brought 
this number down to about sixty. The few who were 
still alive had set out to leave the settlement and were 
on their way down the river when they met the ships 
of Lord Delaware with men and supplies. They went 
back to Jamestown, and the settlement was saved. 

64. Governor Dale. 

Delaware, who followed Smith as governor of Virginia, 
remained at Jamestown only a few months. He could 
not bear the climate and went back to England in ill 
health, never to return to Jamestown again. He was 
followed by Governor Dale in 1611. It was during this 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 153 

year that the first farm animals were brought. They 
were pigs, goats, and cows. 

Dale understood what to do. He knew that in the 
main the settlers that had come to Jamestown were of 
the worst people to be found in England. Those that 
came willingly and would pay their way did not come 
to stay, but to hunt for gold, and they expected to get 
it quickly and go back. Not finding it, they had no 
heart for any other work and did nothing but spend 
their time in idleness. Of another class were those 
who, wishing to hunt for gold, could not pay their pas- 
sage and so bound themselves, in writing, to work it out 
after getting over. They had no interest in the work 
and were idle. Of another class were those who, being 
friendless tramps and beggars in the streets of London, 
were seized and shipped to the colony against their will. 
Still others were the convicts who were sent by hundreds 
from the prisons of England to get rid of them. These 
worthless creatures, who could not take care of them- 
selves in England, were twice as helpless in wild Amer- 
ica as they had been at home, and it was not strange 
that they died by scores. 

Dale made them work. He punished those who 
would not and showed no mercy. He flogged many; 
some he hanged. He burned the tongues of some of 
the fault-finders. One who would not work, but who 
stole grain from those who did, he shut up and starved 
to death. 



154 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 




The English Country in North America 

Not only did Dale punish the idlers, he helped the few 
who would work by changing the rules. Up to his time, 
all the food that was raised had been kept in a common 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 155 

storehouse, from which it was given out to all alike. 
The lazy ones were given just as much as those who 
worked. This caused the lazy to shirk and discouraged 
the workers. Now, each settler was given a farm to 
work for himself, and he could have that which he 
raised and no more. Men were now allowed to own as 
much as a hundred acres of land, if they were able to buy 
it. Each man had to pay in a small amount of corn to 
the company as a tax. The change had a good effect. 

65. Tobacco. 

In 1612 a prominent young man, named John Rolfe, 
began to raise tobacco, which grew wild in Virginia and 
which was coming into use in Europe. He was success- 
ful in growing it and selling it in England at good prices. 
Thus began the tobacco trade of the world. 

66. Argall kidnaps Pocahontas. 

Neither the cruel methods nor the helpful rules of 
Dale could make over the criminal outcasts of London 
into good men. In spite of all he and the better class 
could do, in 1613 the colony came to want. Food was 
scarce, and the Indians were angry and threatening 
because they had been abused by the unruly whites in 
the settlement. As the whites stole from them, they 
began stealing from the whites, and they carried off 
some farming tools. 

Samuel Argall, who was afterwards governor of the 



156 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



colony, went with his vessel up the river to ask Pow- 
hatan for corn and to demand that the tools be returned. 
The chief refused. 




Alter a contemporary painting, executed in England. 



Pocahontas 

Knowing the old man's love for his daughter, Argall 
formed a plan to steal her and take her away. He 
believed that Powhatan would yield for the sake of 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 157 

getting her back. So he hired an Indian to get Poca- 
hontas to come on board his ship, and when she came, 
he sailed away with her to Jamestown. 

67. Marriage of Pocahontas; her Death in England. 

As might have been expected, Powhatan was furious. 
He demanded that the English give her up at once, 
and said that he would kill every person at Jamestown 
if she was not set free. But when he learned that she 
was well treated and held in great respect by the James- 
town people, his anger cooled; and later, he was pleased 
when he was told that a young Englishman wished to 
marry her. The young Indian girl, after being baptized, 
was married in the church to John Rolfe. Two or three 
Indians were at the wedding. From this time she was 
known as Lady Rebecca. 

In 1616 Rolfe and his Indian wife went to England, 
where they remained for some years. She was treated 
as a princess because her father was a king. As she 
was about to return to Jamestown, she sickened and 
died, leaving a little son. 

68. Better Times. 

After " the starving time " was over, the colony was 
never in danger of being given up. A better class of 
people began to come, and more sense was used in carry- 
ing on affairs. The colony was safe, and from this time 
it spread out and grew. 



158 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

White men had now come to North America to stay 
at five points far distant from each other. The Spanish 
were at Santa Fe and at St. Augustine; the Dutch were 
at the mouth of the Hudson ; the French were on the St. 
Lawrence; and the English at Jamestown. 

69. Government by the People. 

xArgall, who was now governor, was a rogue. He abused 
the people and robbed the company, and the people de- 
manded better treatment. The company saw that they 
were right. Accordingly, in 1619, Sir George Yeardley 
was sent from England to be governor of the colony, 
and he brought a set of rules, called a charter, under 
which he was to govern. These provided that he should 
call a few chosen men to represent the people in making 
laws. So two men from each of the eleven boroughs 
met with the governor and his council in the James- 
town church, July 30, 1619. The meeting was called 
the Assembly and it lasted for about a week. A few 
laws were made, one of which was that all people should 
attend church regularly. The men who came from the 
boroughs were called Burgesses, and as these meetings 
were to be held every year, the Assembly was called 
the House of Burgesses. This was the beginning in 
America of government by the people. 

70. Prosperity. 

After the people began to make their own laws, a 
better class in England came to take interest in the 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 150 

colony. People liked the idea of living where they 
could govern themselves. Besides, it was now plain 

that money could be made in Virginia in tobacco grow- 
ing. Forty thousand pounds of the leaf wen- now 
going to England every year, and more was wanted. 
Rich men began to go to Virginia to start great tobacco 
plantations. Soon the good land along the James, 
even far above Jamestown, was largely taken up. 
Twelve hundred people came in 1619. The forests 
were cut down, and tobacco grew where trees had stood. 
The planters began to go to other rivers, of which there 
were many along the low coast slope. Thus the settle- 
ment spread out, and the colony became Virginia rather 
than Jamestown. It covered a large extent of country. 
Good government and industry had brought prosperity. 
In 1622 there were four thousand people in the colony, 
nearly all raising tobacco. 

By this time women were coming, and not a little of 
the change for the better which took place was due to 
them. There were, at this time, a hundred and fifty 
women in the colony, and a hundred and fifty English 
homes with English wives and mothers were a great 
force for good in the new country. 

71. Slavery. 

In those days slavery was common, as it always had 
been, throughout the world. It came to America with 
the first white man, for Columbus himself made si, 



160 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

of the Indians and sent some back to Spain. In all the 
Spanish settlements there were slaves. In England from 
the very first there were slaves, and so it was thought 
proper by the settlers in Virginia that they, too, should 
have slaves. It was hard for the planters to raise tobacco 
for want of laborers. 

The white servants were not enough. They were too 
few and they would all in time be free, after their passage 
money was paid. Slaves that would always be slaves 
were wanted, and the colonists got them. One day, in 
1619, a Dutch ship came up the James. She had come 
from the coast of Africa with a cargo of negroes who 
had been dragged away from their homes. Of the whole 
cargo only twenty were left, and these were sick and 
starving. The planters bought them for slaves. Thus 
negro slavery began in America. More ships came 
with more negroes, and soon there were slaves in all the 
colonies. By the end of the century one fourth of the 
human beings of the colony of Virginia were negro 
slaves. 

72. The London Company loses its Charter. 

James I, the King, began to watch the growth of the 
colony. Now that it was getting strong and profitable, 
he thought the colonists had much more freedom than 
was proper for the subjects of a king. The London 
Company that owned it had become rich and powerful 
by the trade in tobacco. Many of its members were in 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 161 



Parliament, and they op- 
posed him in some of his 
plans. So, to punish 
them, he took away the 
charter of the company 
in 1624, and began to gov- 
ern the colony himself. 
From that time on Vir- 
ginia was called a royal 
province. While a new set 
of laws was being made, 
which would have taken 
self-government away 
from the Virginians, the 
king died. 

James's son, Charles, 
followed him as king and 
was called Charles I. His Charlbb i in Fm,i, Armor 

reign was full of trouble so that he had no time to carry 
out the purpose of his father, and thus it happened that 
Virginia kept its self-government. 

73. Royal Governors. 

In 1627 Governor Yeardley died, and King Charles 
sent over Sir John Harvey, a nobleman, to be governor. 
Harvey was a thief and as great a rascal as Argall had 
been, if not greater. It was very common then for 
noblemen to be scoundrels; England was full of titled 




Painting by Sir Anthony Van »yck, Biemitage, St. 
Petersburg. 



162 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

rascals, and, sad to say, many of them were friends of 
the king. After being robbed by Harvey the Virginians 
sent him home, in 1635, much to the anger of King 
Charles. The king sent him back, and he ruled until 
1639. But the troubles at home that were to cost 
Charles his head had begun, and he dared not force 
Harvey upon them any longer. So he sent over Sir 
William Berkeley to be governor in 1641. 

Berkeley, like his master, was a tyrant. He held 
the lower classes in contempt, and was opposed to all 
that might tend to raise them in life. He was the enemy 
of schools and printing presses. He did all that he could 
to widen the gulf between the poor whites and the rich 
ones by pushing the poor down and unfairly lifting the 
rich up. 

74. Death of King Charles I. 

King James began a course of tyranny in England which 
his son Charles carried on after the father passed away. 
He tried to control the religion of the English people, 
and he taxed them beyond reason. The nobles and the 
gentry, called Cavaliers, were with the king, while the 
common people, called Puritans or Roundheads, were 
against him. At length civil war began, and the Puritans 
under Oliver Cromwell defeated the Cavaliers. Charles 
was tried for treason, found guilty, and, in 1649, beheaded. 
This left England without a king, for the people would 
not have Charles's son, himself named Charles, 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 1G3 

75. The Coming of the Cavaliers. 

When the king and his friends were defeated in England, 
many of the Cavaliers had to flee from the country and 
they came, as a rule, to Virginia. They brought the 
manners and style of living common among the higher 
classes in England. They took up great tracts of land 
for plantations and built fine mansions to live in. They 
owned many slaves, who tilled their fields and raised 
for them the crops of tobacco which brought them 
riches when sold in England. Generally the plantations 
were on the river banks, and each one had its landing, 
or wharf, to which ships could come for their cargoes. 
Some of them were eighty miles from the sea. Food 
was plentiful, but nearly all else that was used about 
these mansions was bought in England and brought to 
them in the ships that came for tobacco. 

76. The Puritans leave Virginia. 

During the struggle that led to the death of the king, 
Berkeley and his friends in Virginia favored the king. 
of course, and opposed such people in the colony as were 
against him. There were about a thousand Puritans 
in Virginia, and they were so oppressed by Berkeley 
that, in 1649, they went away to Maryland, a new Catho- 
lic colony where people of all sects were well treated. 

Thus it happened that a most excellent stock of 
common people went out o( Virginia, and another 
stock oi excellent upper-class people came in. The 



164 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

refinement and culture that the Cavaliers brought was 
needed in that wild country, and their effects are felt 
there to this day. 

It was also a most excellent thing for Maryland that 
the Puritans went there, for though they quarreled with 
the Catholic founders of the colony in after years, and 
perhaps not always fairly, they did much to give strength 
and vigor to the colony. 

77. The Time of the Commonwealth in England. 

After the death of King Charles I there was need of 
a strong ruler for England, and the Puritans there placed 
their great leader, Cromwell, in power, calling him Lord 
Protector. He came to power in 1653 and held his place 
for five years. 

He sent his agents to Virginia in 1653 to settle matters 
with the colonists. Berkeley gave up his office, and the 
government was now all in the hands of the Burgesses. 
They chose their own council and governor, and things 
went well with the colony. 

78. Charles II. 

Cromwell died in 1658; then his son ruled England 
for a short time, and then Charles, son of the Charles 
that was beheaded, became King Charles II. This 
was in 1660. 

When word reached Virginia that Charles was king, 
the people knew that they must gain his favor; so the 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 165 

Burgesses at once elected Berkeley governor, and he 
took control. He ruled the House of Burgesses and 
that body did his bidding. Virginia was now under 




Puiiitiny by Vun der Fn, Uftizi, Florence. 

Oliver Cromwell 



Cavalier control and times were bad for Puritans and 
for those of all religious sects except the Established 

The House of Burgesses, made 



Church of England 



166 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

up of friends of Berkeley, so managed that there was 
no election of its members for sixteen years. In this 
way the people were cheated out of their right to have 
Burgesses of their own choosing. 

Charles II was a worse king than his father. He 
believed, as his father and his grandfather James I had, 
that the king ruled by authority of God, and that he 
could do as he pleased with the people, and that what 
he saw fit to do was none of their business. He said 
that their part of government was to pay the bills, and 
do the king's fighting for him, and ask no questions. 
He claimed that Virginia belonged to him to do with 
as he pleased. 

He gathered around him a lot of young noblemen 
rowdies, and they spent their time in carousing with the 
money he wrung from his subjects by unjust taxation. 
He was called the " Merry Monarch " because he made 
merriment and folly the chief business of life. " Here," 
he said to two of his drinking companions, " Virginia 
belongs to me, every foot of it. Take it, I make you 
a present of it. Everything there is yours for thirty- 
one years. Go there, and make those fellows who think 
they own the plantations pay you rent for them." 

This was in 1673. The Virginia people, of whom there 
were about forty thousand, would not submit to this, 
and he never put his gift of other people's property in 
force. Lords Culpepper and Arlington were the friends 
whom he sought to favor. They knew better than to 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 167 

try to take possession, though in after years Culpepper 
did go to Virginia and was governor for a while after 
Berkeley went back to England. 

















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mkk ' 




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JB 








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From a miniature 

King Charles II 



79. Trouble with the Indians. 

As long as Powhatan lived, after the marriage of his 
daughter Pocahontas to an Englishman, he was the 
friend of the settlers, and he held his Indians back from 
doing them very serious harm. He no doubt saw, as 



168 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

his warriors did, that the whites would at last drive away 
the Indians, but he wished to have peace. Both before 
and after his death the Indians saw their hunting grounds 
spoiled by being turned into tobacco fields, and they fell 
back slowly from the white line of plantations to where 
game was yet plentiful. They said but little to the whites 
about it, but in their hearts they were angry. 

After the death of Powhatan, 1618, Opechancanough, 
his brother, became chief, and he felt it his duty to fight 
to save the country for his people. He made his plans 
with great care and spent four years in getting ready. 
The whites knew of no danger and allowed the Indians 
to come and go about their houses freely. The chief, 
when all was ready, divided his warriors into bands, 
so that an attack could be made on Jamestown and 
on all the plantations along the rivers at the same hour, 
which was noon of a certain day. His purpose was to 
kill all the whites, so that all the fields would grow up 
again to forest and become hunting grounds. 

The attack was made. A few families had been 
warned by friendly Indians and they escaped, but they 
had no time to tell others what was coming. By sunset 
of that day nearly four hundred men, women, and children 
had been murdered. All the English would have been 
killed had not the Indians, in fear of their deadly fire- 
arms, fallen back wherever the whites gave battle. 

After this day of murder, the English fought the In- 
dians without mercy. All trade with them was stopped,, 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 169 

and they were driven back farther and farther, and this 
went on for twenty-two years before they made another 
strong fight. 

In 1644 they attacked some outlying settlements 
and killed about three hundred people. Again the 
English harried them, and there was active war for some 
time, the Indians remembering their lesson and not 
daring to give regular battle. It was a period during 
which Indians and white men killed each other when- 
ever they got a chance. 

Chief Opechancanough, now an old man over ninety 
years of age, was captured by the English and taken to 
Jamestown, where he was murdered by one of his guards. 
The Indians, hard pressed by the English, were forced 
to give up their lands between the York and the James 
rivers forever. They went far west and north, and for 
the next thirty years there was no trouble in Virginia 
with the Indians. 

In 1676 the Susquehannock Indians, who lived around 
the head of Chesapeake Bay, were driven by another tribe 
that lived north of them away from their own grounds 
to the south as far as the Potomac River. There they 
came to English settlements, and two of their number 
visited the English to ask for peace. They were brutally 
murdered. Angered at this, the Susquehannocks at- 
tacked several settlements and destroyed them. 

Berkeley, besides being governor, was buying furs 
from the Indians and thus making money for himself. 








Drawing by J. £. Kelley. 



Bacon defies Berkeley 
170 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 171 

When the settlers asked him to put a stop to the mur- 
derous work of the Indians, he refused. He cared more 
for his private gain than he did for the good of the colony. 
He declared that the English should not fight the Indians, 
and thus he left the outlying settlements to their fate. 

80. Bacon's Rebellion. 

At length the Indians attacked a plantation owned by 
a young lawyer named Nathaniel Bacon, and murdered 
some of his servants. Angered at this, Bacon set out to 
put a stop to their deadly work by' moving against them. 
He first asked Governor Berkeley to allow him to act. 
But Berkeley refused and declared Bacon and his men 
traitors and outlaws. Then Bacon went to the Assem- 
bly, of which he was a member, and got leave to make 
war on the Indians. After this he went with about 
twenty of his men and made the governor consent. 

Bacon went forward with about six hundred men 
and killed nearly the whole tribe of Indians, though 
the governor had again declared him and his men outlaws. 

As his force came back to Jamestown, the governor 
ran away. A little later he came back with some of his 
friends, but had to run away again. Angry at the con- 
duct of Berkeley and his followers, Bacon's men set fire 
to Jamestown and destroyed it. A short time after 
this Bacon was taken sick and he soon died. Not long 
after that old Berkeley was removed by the king. 

Jamestown was never rebuilt. The people moved 



172 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

away to a more healthful place, and built a town called 
Williamsburg, which was the capital of Virginia for 
many years. 

81. Country and Climate. 

By this time the people had pretty well searched out 
the country of Virginia. Rivers had been followed up 
to their sources, and the Alleghany Mountains had been 
found. It was known that there was a family or system 
of rivers, running seaward across an almost level strip of 
land many miles wide. This carried off the abundant 
rainfall, and the soil, though not very rich, was fairly 
good. The people had grown used to the weather and 
knew what to expect as to length of season and time for 
planting. The climate was very mild and healthful, but 
not adapted to the growth of oranges, lemons, tea, coffee, 
and other hot climate products, all of which were tried. 
Tobacco and corn were native to the soil, and wheat and 
other grains of England, together with the common vege- 
tables, throve well when planted and cared for. It began 
to look as if all things favored the growth in Virginia of 
a great branch of the English people. 

About 1732 people began coming south from Penn- 
sylvania to settle in the rich and beautiful valleys 
among the mountains, such as that of the Shenandoah 
River. They were of a class unlike the English settlers 
in the lowlands of Virginia. Instead of tobacco they 
made wheat and corn their chief crops. 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLED AMERICA 173 
SUMMARY 

1. The Plymouth and London companies were formed in 

England by English merchants, 1606. 

2. The London Company sent settlers to Jamestown, May, 

1607. 

3. Captain John Smith was the most helpful man among the 

number. The successful English settlement at James- 
town was due to his energy and bravery. 

4. The colony was saved by the coming of Lord Delaware. 

5. Tobacco was the principal crop of the colony. 

6. The House of Burgesses met at Jamestown church, July 

30, 1619. This was the first assembly of colonists in 
America to make its own laws. 

7. Negro slaves were brought to Virginia in 1619. 

8. The London Company lost its charter in 1624. 

9. In 1653, Oliver Cromwell became a power in England. 

During this time, 1653-1660, Virginia was ruled by 
the House of Burgesses. 

10. Sir William Berkeley was Governor of Virginia for a second 

time, 1660-1676. 

11. Uprising of the Indians against the white settlers hap- 

pened in 1622 and 1644. 

12. Bacon's Rebellion began in 1676, and ended in the burn- 

ing of Jamestown. 

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 

1. What companies were formed by English merchants to 

settle Virginia? 

2. When did the first expedition sent by the London Com- 

pany leave England? Who was in charge of this 
expedition ? 

3. What man among the first colonists was very helpful to 

their success? 



174 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

4. Who was the chief of the Indians that lived near James- 

town? 

5. Tell about the capture of Captain John Smith by the 

Indians. How was he saved from death? 

6. Tell about "The Starving Time." 

7. What, at an early date, became the principal crop of 

Virginia ? 

8. What was the House of Burgesses? When did it first 

meet? For what purpose? 

9. When did negro slavery begin in Virginia? 

10. Who were the Cavaliers? Why did they leave England 

and come to this country? 

11. Describe the two Indian massacres. 

12. What was the cause of Bacon's Rebellion? 



CHAPTER VII 

NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY 

82. The Hudson River. The Coming of the Dutch. 

Hudson sent word to the Dutch merchants, who had 
hired him to search for a passageway to India, that he 
had failed. But he wrote to them that he had found 
a countiy in America where the natives had plenty of 
fine furs which they gave freely for beads and other 
cheap trinkets. Now furs were hard to get in Europe. 
Such as were to be had were very costly, and came from 
the northern part of Russia. If equally good ones were 
to be had in America, the Dutch wanted to get them. 
So they at once fitted out a ship loaded with such things 
as they thought would please the savages and sent her 
to the Hudson River for furs. This was in 1610. The 
ship came back with a cargo of furs, and the voyage was 
very profitable. 

83. A Dutch Settlement. 

Soon more ships were sent over, and as early as 1614 
Dutch ships were making regular trips to the Hudson 
River for furs. There was need of a trading point to 
which the Indians could bring their furs, so at the mouth 

175 



176 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

of the river a few buildings were put up on an island 
which the Indians called Manhattan. These were built 
of slabs split from trunks of trees, and broad pieces of 
bark were lapped over each other, for roofs. This 
settlement the Dutch called New Amsterdam. 

The French were already getting furs from the Indians 
in the St. Lawrence River country in the north, and the 
Dutch made haste to get the fur trade in the Hudson 
River country. 

The Dutch had traded for many years in all parts of 
the world, and they knew that it was wise to deal fairly 
with savages. So, from the first, they tried to gain the 
friendship of the Indians and took care to treat them 
well. The red men soon learned where they could ex- 
change their fur pelts for such things as they fancied, 
and the fur buyers of Manhattan did a great business. 
From very distant points the Indians came bringing the 
skins of the mink, the fox, the otter, and, most impor- 
tant of all, the beaver. They took in exchange knives, 
hatchets, beads, buttons, looking-glasses, gay ribbons, 
and gaudy paints. 

84. Dutch Treaty with the Iroquois. 

Of all the nations and tribes of Indians in America, 
the most powerful were those of the Hudson River region 
known as the Iroquois, who were also known as The 
Five Nations. It was with these Indians that the 
Dutch traded. A treaty of peace and good will was 



NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY 177 

made with them which, in the end, proved to be a very 
important one. It was a part of the treaty that the 
Dutch should sell to the Iroquois such guns as Cham- 
plain had used when he helped the Algonquins to defeat 
them in the fight near Lake Champlain. To show that 
they meant to keep the peace with the Dutch forever, 
the Indians threw a tomahawk on the ground and 
stamped upon it until they had driven it out of sight. 
The Dutch soon became the rivals of the French in the 
fur trade. 

85. Importance of the Hudson River. 

The Hudson River was more important than the Dutch 
at first knew. It flowed from the north for a great 
distance, and was a highway for the Indians in their 
canoes, just as it is now for the white men with their 
steamboats and other vessels. Beyond it lay Lake 
George, and Lake Champlain stretched out long and 
narrow in the same direction. Sometimes Indians 
would come south in their canoes through those lakes, 
and entering small streams float into the Hudson and 
down that stream to Manhattan. Not only did they 
come from beyond the headwaters of the Hudson ; 
they came eastward to that river through the Mohawk 
Valley from the region of Lake Ontario, far to the west. 
By means of the Hudson River the Dutch could get the 
fur trade of many thousands of miles of country. 

It was soon thought best to have a trading place up 



178 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 




the river, as well as at its 
mouth. So the shrewd 
Dutch chose the point where 
the Mohawk River enters 
the Hudson, and there they 
built a fort and put up 
houses. In those days 
there was no knowing what 
the Indians might do, and 
it was never safe to have 
a trading post without a 
fort. Both the French and 
the Dutch always built a 
fort at each trading post. 

86. Long Island Sound and 
Connecticut River. 

In 1614 a vessel was built 
at Manhattan and a Dutch 
captain, named Block, sailed 
through Long Island Sound 
and discovered the Con- 
necticut River and some is- 
lands. One of them bears 
his name to this day. This 
gave the Dutch a right to 
claim the country drained 
by the Connecticut. 



The North-South Eoute 



NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY 179 

They gave the name New Netherland to the country 
which lay along the coast from the Connecticut on the 
north to the Delaware on the south. They called the 
Hudson the North River and the Delaware the South 
River. 

87. The Dutch West India Company. 

In those days the Spanish claimed by right of dis- 
covery a great part of the seas of the earth, just as they 
did the lands. Even as they tried to keep the people 
of other nations from going upon their lands, they tried 
to keep the ships of those nations from what they called 
their seas. All their ocean vessels, merchant ships, 
as well as war ships, went armed and ready to pounce 
upon such vessels of other powers as they could catch. 
Most of all, they wished to take the ships of Holland. 

The Dutch armed their trading ships so that they 
might defend themselves from the ships of Spain, and, 
since vessel-taking was the fashion, they used to take 
such Spanish ships as they could. The Dutch as well 
as the Spanish were great sea fighters. 

In 1621 some wealthy men in Holland formed a com- 
pany to send out well-armed trading vessels to buy and 
sell goods, to make settlements, and to take Spanish 
ships and attack Spaniards wherever found. This com- 
pany was chartered by the Dutch government. It was 
called The Dutch West India Company. The govern- 
ment gave it full control of the New Netherland country, 



ISO SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

and it went ahead to plant settlements on the Con- 
necticut, the Hudson, and the Delaware rivers. It 
built a fort on the Delaware nearly opposite where 
Philadelphia now stands. 

88. Peter Minuit buys Manhattan Island. 

As the fur trade grew and the company prospered, 
the settlements grew, and after a while the company 
sent over Peter Minuit to be governor of New Nether- 
land. From that time, as long as New Netherland re- 
mained subject to Holland, the company kept a governor 
at New Amsterdam. These governors were controlled 
under the laws of Holland by the directors of the 
company. 

Minuit was a very shrewd man. He looked over the 
bay, where all the ships of the world might lie safe from 
storms, and saw before him the Hudson River and the 
vast range of country whose trade it commanded. He 
saw how the East River led to the trade of Long Island 
Sound, and to that of all the region which could be reached 
by the Connecticut River, and other rivers flowing into 
the sound. It was clear to him that the company had 
a wonderful center for trade. He foresaw that, as time 
went on, the harbor would grow more and more important. 
He was right; for that bay is now the leading trade 
center in the world. Knowing that Manhattan Island 
would in the future be of great value to the company, 
he bought it from the Indians. They made him pay 



NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY 



181 



what they .thought was a big price for it, and got beads, 
buttons, and other trifles, which cost the company about 
twenty-four dollars. New York City now stands on 
that island, and much of the land is now held at so high 
a price that it would take twenty-four dollars to pay for 
much less than a man's foot would cover. 




Oopyi 



Title (iiuirant.-.- and Tm-i Company. 
Purchase of Manhattan Island from the Red Man 



89. The Patroons. 

The company wanted to make the settlements strong, so 
that they could defend themselves if attacked by their 
old-time foes, the Spanish, or by the French, who meant 
to gain control of the Hudson River. So the directors in 
Holland voted to give great stretches of land in New 
Netherland to such of their number as chose to take them. 



182 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Each one could take up a tract of land sixteen miles 
long, fronting on one side of any river in New Nether- 
land, or, he could take half of his sixteen miles on one 
side of a river and the other half opposite. The tract 
might run back from the river as far as the owner liked. 
The Indians must be paid for it, but it was easy to settle 
with them, for they placed little value on land. These 
landholders could not trade in furs; that was the busi- 
ness of the company. 

Each of these landholders, to make his title good, 
brought from Holland at least fifty persons to live upon 
his ground and till the soil. He was also obliged to 
bring horses, cows, and other farm animals, and such 
farm tools as might be needed. The landholder under 
the law was to be called a Patroon, and was to govern 
the people on his land. Those whom the Patroon 
brought over had to stay with him for ten years, and 
obey him in all things. He was a sort of baron over 
them. Without his consent they were not allowed to 
hunt or fish or to do anything but farm work. The 
law required him to keep a teacher and a minister for 
his people on the place. 

A number of wealthy members of the company came to 
New Netherland and took up great tracts of land, on 
the Hudson and the Delaware rivers. By thus bring- 
ing in so many farmers and improving the country, 
they gave the colony some strength. Then began the 
cutting down of forest trees, the planting of fields, and 



NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY 183 

the building of good solid houses. This kind of work 
was already going on in Jamestown and was beginning 
in New England where the English were. Slaves worked 
in the fields in the Dutch settlements, as they did in 
those of the English, both north and south. 

After a ten years' trial of the patroon plan, it was 
found that for the good of the colony something was 
needed in the way of giving poor men a chance to farm 
for themselves. Then many grants of small farms were 
made to those who could not afford to work large ones. 
This had a good effect, and the colony grew in numbers 
and in strength. 

As the years passed, the people came to dislike the 
rule of the governors sent over by the home company, 
and they chafed under the control of the patroons. In 
the Massachusetts colony, not far away, the people by 
vote in town meeting made their own laws. Of course 
the people of New Netherland knew this, and they thought 
they should have the same right. The company had 
not been doing well in other parts of the world, and was 
in need of money. It could not pay for means of defense 
against savages, or others who might threaten the colony, 
so without giving them any voice in the matter it taxed 
the people heavily for money to pay for these things. 

90. War with Indians. 

At one time the company sent over as governor a man 
named Kieft, who was well known as a rogue. Among 



184 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

his other evil deeds, he broke faith with the Indians. 
When a party of them, chased by another tribe, came 
to the Dutch for safety, he promised to protect them. 
Yet, when they were asleep at night, he let his men fall 
upon and brutally murder nearly all of the party, even 
the women and children. 

This horrible deed roused the Indians to revenge, 




New Amsterdam, 1626-1647 

and, in 1641, they began a war upon the Dutch which 
lasted four years. Great loss of life and property fol- 
lowed, and the cost of carrying on the war fell on the 
people, for which they blamed Kieft. They said that 
the attack on the Indians would not have been made, 
and that there would have been no war, if a voice in 
affairs were given to them such as the people of Massa- 
chusetts had. At this time many people went away 
from- New Amsterdam, and at length there were only 




Fainting by G. II. Bonghton. 

Peter Stuyvesant and a Dltcii Maiden 
185 



186 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

about two hundred left. These made such complaints 
to the company in Holland, that in 1647 a new governor 
was sent to them. He was Peter Stuyvesant, a one- 
legged war veteran, the last of the Dutch governors 
at New Amsterdam. 

91. Free Religion. 

The Dutch, in matters of religion, were a free-minded 
people. It was to Holland that the Pilgrims went from 
England, before they sailed for Plymouth, and there 
they were far better treated than they had been at home- 
In New Netherland the Dutch showed the same willing- 
ness that they had shown in the home country to let 
people follow any line of religious belief that pleased 
them. For this reason, people of many sects came as 
immigrants to New Amsterdam. Protestants, Catho- 
lics, Jews, Presbyterians, Quakers, and Puritans, all 
were welcome, and all came. In 1643 eighteen different 
languages were spoken in New Amsterdam. Even 
Kieft had never tried to prevent any one from the free 
practice of his own religion. 

But Stuyvesant, unlike most other Dutchmen, did 
not believe in freedom of religion. He belonged to 
the Dutch Reformed Church, and was opposed to all 
others. He punished some people for their religious 
practices, and even went so far as to have some Quakers 
whipped. His course in this and other things so dis- 
pleased the company and made the people hate and 



NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY 187 

oppose him so much, that he at length yielded, and let 
religious affairs alone. 

In 1647 Stuyvesant allowed the people to appoint 
a committee of nine good citizens to consider public 
matters with him, though he did not agree to follow 
their advice. Little as this was, it was a step toward 
self-government such as the settlers in all the English 
colonies were enjoying. Following up this gain, the 
people pleaded with the company in Holland with such 
force that, in 1653, New Amsterdam was allowed to have 
a city government. There were now from eight hundred 
to a thousand dwellers in the town. 

It was at about this time that a wall was built across 
the island from the East River to the North River, as 
a defense against Indians or any other enemy that might 
attack from the land side. It was made of heavy high 
posts set closely, side by side, and its building for a town 
of so few people was quite an undertaking. It ran 
where Wall Street now is. The town lay between that 
and the water, around the point of the island. 

92. New Netherland takes New Sweden. 

There was a colony of Swedes on the Delaware River, 
and Governor Stuyvesant wanted no colony of any other 
nation on land that was a part of New Netherland. 
In 1655 Sweden was at war in Europe and was hard 
pressed, and the Dutch governor thought it was a good 
time to attack the Swedish colony on the Delaware 



188 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

River. So he sent a fleet and took possession. He 
left the Swedes in peace only after they had agreed to 
be subject to the government of New Netherland. 

By this time, many of the English had moved west- 
ward from Massachusetts and settled on the Connecticut 
River. Stuyvesant tried to make them come under his 
rule, but they refused, and he did not think it wise to 
try to compel them. 

93. England takes New Netherland. 

The home country of England is a small one. The 
welfare of her people depends mainly upon trade across 
the seas. When England began to settle her part of 
America, she saw that then and in future ages the trade 
of her colonies would be very helpful to her people at 
home. She claimed nearly all the Atlantic coast, and 
had settlements in both the northern and southern parts. 

After the downfall of Spanish sea power, Holland 
became England's great rival in the strife for the trade 
of the world. The Dutch claimed much of the best 
part of North America. Their settlements in the New 
World separated those of England from each other, 
and they held the best harbor in the world. More than 
that, they had a very profitable fur trade. Such a state 
of things would never do. England must have an un- 
broken country along the Atlantic coast of America; 
England must have the fur trade; England must have 
New Netherland. So said the English king. 



NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY 189 

England's claim was a weak one. The Cabots in her 
employ had sailed along the coast more than a century 
and a half before, and on that fact she made her claims. 
But a weak claim, with a powerful nation behind it, is 
sometimes a winning one. England wanted New Nether- 
land, even as Stuyvesant had wanted New Sweden. 
She had as little scruple about taking it as the fiery 
governor had in taking the colony on the Delaware. 

In 1664, although there was peace between England 
and Holland, King Charles II of England sent a fleet 
to take New Amsterdam. The Dutch were too weak 
to resist. Without a shot being fired, New Amster- 
dam and all the rest of New Netherland, including the 
Swedish settlement on the Delaware, went under Eng- 
lish government. 

94. New York. 

This was easily done. Stuyvesant stormed and raved ; 
but he had been a tyrant. The people hated him, and 
they felt sure that they would be better off under the 
English than under the company. They were quite 
willing that the change should be made. The Dutch 
flag came down, the English flag went up, and New 
Amsterdam became New York. It was so named after 
James, Duke of York in England, brother of the king, 
himself to be king in a later day. Some of the Dutch 
people, unwilling to live under English rule, went to 
South Carolina to live. 



190 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

King Charles II had given the Dutch holdings in 
America to James. Fort Orange, up the North River, 
was now called Albany after James, who was Duke of 
Albany as well as Duke of York. The whole colony was 
called New York instead of New Netherland. 

New York, with its ten thousand people, was governed 
now by the Duke of York and Albany, as it had been 
by the Dutch West India Company. He sent out a 
governor, but did not give the people as much voice in 
affairs as they had hoped to have, or as the other English 
colonies had. 

The English took pains to keep for the colony the 
friendship of the Iroquois Indians, which had been of 
such great value to the Dutch. The Five Nations were 
angry with the French for the fight Champlain had made 
against them in 1609. They were always ready to make 
war upon them and to hold them back should they try 
to come down into New York. 

The French were neighbors of the English on the 
north, as the Spanish were on the south, and both were 
jealous neighbors whom it was wise to watch. Each 
coveted English land that joined them, but though both 
in later years fought for it, neither ever gained any. 
Through the many years of warfare that came, England 
held her own and gained from both. 

In 1685 the Duke of York became King James of Eng- 
land, and soon after he took away the rights of the people, 
forbade the use of printing presses, broke up the schools, 



NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY 



191 



and attached New York to the colonies of New England. 
He appointed Edmund Andros governor over the whole. 




Painting by J. Kiiey, in the National Portrait Gallery. 



King James II 

Andros was naturally a good man, but he carried out 
the purposes of his king and thus became a tyrant. 

In 1688 James II was driven from the throne of Eng- 
land, and William III became king. There was much 
conflict in New York at the time between the gentry, 



192 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



and the common people, and when the people of Boston 
drove Andros out of the country, Jacob Leisler, a mer- 
chant, was made governor by the common people. He 
held the office for some three years, when a new governor 
came from England. Leisler was arrested, and after- 
ward wrongfully hanged for treason. 




New York in 1689 

From the time when William became king, war raged 
between France and England for seven years, and that 
caused fighting between the northern English colonies and 
the French of Canada. The Canadians with their Indian 
friends made some trouble for the people of New York 
but had gained no ground when peace was declared. 

95. New Jersey. 

When, in 1664, the English took New Netherland 

away from the Dutch, they took the country between 



NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY 193 

the Hudson River and the Delaware as a part of it. 
There were a few Dutch settlers in thai country then, 
but they were mainly near New Amsterdam, or, as the 
English began to call it, New York. 

Up to that time (here wns no name for that country. 
King Charles II gave what is now New York and New- 
Jersey to his brother James, who was to be king after 
him. James then granted that part of what his brother 
had given him, which lay between the Hudson and the 
Delaware, to two friends of his, Carteret and Berkeley. 
One of these men had been governor of the Island of 
Jersey, a part of England, and James named the country 
that he had sold to him and his friend, New Jersey. 

Berkeley, one of the owners, finally sold the western 
part, his share, to some Quakers. Then it came to.be 
owned by Perm long before he owned Pennsylvania. 
Quakers came at once from England to West Jersey, 
as Penn's part was called, and began what has since 
become Burlington. This was in 1667. Perm made 
his holdings in New Jersey as free and liberal in religious 
matters as he afterward did Pennsylvania. 

Five years after the founding of Burlington in West 
Jersey, East Jersey was bought by a company in which 
were many Quakers, one of whom was Penn. 

In 1702 the owners of New Jersey, both the east and 
the west parts, gave up the colony to the king. Then 
for a long time the colony had for its governor whoever 
happened to be governor of New York. But at length 



194 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

the colony came to having its own governor, and it re- 
mained a colony until the great rebellion against England, 
called the Revolution, succeeded, and then it became 
one of the United States. 



SUMMARY 

1. Henry Hudson sent word to the Dutch that he had found 

a part of the New World where furs could be found in 
plenty. 

2. The Dutch founded a trading post on Manhattan Island 

(1614). To this they gave the name New Amsterdam. 

3. The Dutch made a treaty of peace with the Iroquois 

and were thus able to secure furs from them. 

4. The Dutch West India Company was formed in 1621, to 

settle and control the country extending from the 
Connecticut to the Delaware rivers. This region was 
called by the Dutch New Netherland. 

5. Peter Minuit, the first Dutch governor, bought Manhattan 

Island from the Indians. 

6. The Patroon system proved a failure. 

7. Peter Stuyvesant became governor of New Amsterdam 

in 1647. 

8. The Swedish settlement on the Delaware was taken by 

the Dutch in 1655. 

9. The English took possession of New Netherland in 1664. 
10. The country between the Delaware and Hudson rivers 

became the colony of New Jersey in 1702. 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 

1. On account of what trade was the Hudson River country 
valuable to the Dutch? 



NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY 195 

2. When did they first found a trading post? What did 

they call this trading post? Why? 

3. Why did the Dutch find it easy to trade with the Indians ? 

4. Why was the Dutch West India Company formed ? Over 

what region in this country was it to have control? 

5. Who was the first Dutch governor at New Amsterdam? 

The last? 

6. Why was the Patroon system a failure? 

7. -What colony on the Delaware surrendered to the Dutch? 

When? 

8. When did the English take possession of New Netherland ? 

To whom did Charles II grant New Netherland ? What 
was New Amsterdam now called? 

9. To whom was New Jersey first granted? By whom? 

When did New Jersey become a colony? 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 
96. The Kennebec River Settlement. 

In 1602, five years before the settlement of James- 
town, Bartholomew Gosnold went from England to the 
northern part of the queen's coast in America, the part 
called North Virginia, and while there he discovered 
a cape which he named Cape Cod. Other Englishmen 
went with their ships to that country to trade with the 
Indians and to catch codfish, so that the people of 
England came to know more or less about the North 
Virginia country. 

The king of England wanted to hold his part of Amer- 
ica by means of settlements. So, when two strong 
companies were made up by wealthy people of England 
to plant settlements in America for the money they 
could make out of the business, he favored them. He 
wanted one company to make a colony in the south to 
keep the Spanish of Florida from working north, and 
the other to make a colony in the north to keep the 
French of the St. Lawrence country from working south. 
We have seen how the London Company planted its 
colony in the south at Jamestown. 

196 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 197 

During the same year in which the London Company 
sent Captain Newport to the James River, the Plymouth 
Company sent Sir George Popham with a large band of 
emigrants to the Kennebec River in what is now Maine. 
This was in 1607. 

But Popham's men could not stand the terrible winters 
of the north, nor did they like the rocky and barren soil ; 
so they gave up the settlement within a year, and went 
back to England. It seemed that the king could have 
no northern colony unless better men than those who 
went out with either Captain Newport or Sir George 
Popham could be sent to make it. 

97. Smith explores the New England Coast. 

In Newport's party that went to the James River was 
Gosnold, who often talked with Captain Smith about 
the North Virginia country that he had seen. Smith 
told him that if he ever had a chance, he would go to 
that coast and explore it. 

After Smith went back to England from Jamestown, 
in 1609, and after he recovered from his wounds, he 
returned to this country and visited the New England 
coast. He made a valuable map of the coast. A 
monument to his memory has been built on one of 
the Isles of Shoals. 

Smith went along the coast from the Cape Cod that 
Gosnold had told him about to the Penobscot River, 
and named the countiy New England. In doing this, 



198 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

he followed the fashion of the time, which was for nations 
in Europe to give their own name to parts of America 
discovered by them. Thus, there were New Spain, New 
France, New Netherland, New Sweden, and New Eng- 
land. Since then all these except New England have 
lost their names. 

The Plymouth Company was much encouraged by 
what Smith told them, and tried hard to found a colony 
either where he had explored, or not far south of it. 
But its managers saw what very bad work the London 
Company's colony on the James River was doing. They 
were afraid they could do no better with their colony, 
unless they could send out better men. So things 
drifted along in this way for a few years, until, at length, 
such men were found. To show how they got them, we 
must go back about a hundred years to begin the story. 

98. The Puritans. 

Up to 1517, the only Christian church in the world 
was the Catholic church. In that year a movement 
began in Europe which was the beginning of the Prot- 
estant churches. Some of the nations, like England 
and Holland, became Protestant nations, while others, 
like France and Spain, remained Catholic. In France 
and in England the people were divided, and there was 
much hard feeling between those who held to one belief 
and those who held to the other. This was very true of 
England, where there were very many Catholics who 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 199 

were hated bitterly by the Protestants. The latter 
came to be known, in England, as belonging to what 
was called the Church of England, and in America, 
as forming the Episcopal church. In some ways its 
forms of worship were like those of the Catholic church. 
Within this new church were some people whose dislike 
of the Catholic church, and its forms of worship, was so 
great that they determined to bring about certain changes 
in the former. They tried to purify it, they said, and for 
this reason they were called Puritans. 

At this period the kings of England were of the 
Church of England, and they abused their subjects in 
religious matters quite as much as they did in other 
ways. Those were hard days for the Catholics in England. 
After a while there grew up a great party, opposed to 
the kings and their church, called the Puritan party. It 
grew in power until it at last overthrew the king, 
as you have read in the story of Virginia. 

99. The Separatists. 

Among the Puritans were some who separated from 
the Church of England and had ways of worship of 
their own. These were called Separatists. 

The anger of King James and his friends fell on the 
Separatists, and they had to flee from England. They 
were not wanted in any Catholic country, so they went 
to Holland, a Protestant country, where they were well 
treated. This was in 1608. They were living there at 



200 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

the time when the Plymouth Company was looking for a 
strong, rugged, moral, God-fearing, hard-working class of 
men with which to make a colony in North Virginia. 

These Puritans over on the other side of the North 
Sea in Holland, called Separatists, were a church com- 
pany, with their minister, fathers, mothers, and children. 
They were neither high class nor low class among the 
people, but were of the middle class of English, and 
better in all respects than most of those who were above 
or below them in life. 

Though they were far from England, they were proud 
of being English; they loved the language and the ways 
of their countrymen. It grieved them to think that 
they and their children and grandchildren were to live 
among the Dutch, and, as time went on, were to lose 
their language and become as Dutch people. 

They wanted to go where they could be English, and 
yet be free from abuse by the king and his party. They 
had heard of America; they had been told of Jamestown. 
They would have gone there, but they knew that the 
king and his church ruled the colony, and that men and 
women there were made to go to the Church of England 
services, and were whipped if they did not. They had 
heard of the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, and 
were invited to go there, but there they would be among 
the Dutch as much as they were before. Not that they 
disliked the Dutch; they knew they were good people, 
but they wanted to feel that their children were to grow 




201 



202 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

up English. They would not go to the French in Canada, 
nor to the Spanish in Florida or Mexico, for both were 
Catholics. 

They knew that the king wanted a colony in the cold 
north, and that the Plymouth Company wanted men, 
women, and children to go there to form one. So, they 
got King James to promise that he would not trouble 
them in America, and they arranged with the Plymouth 
Company to send them over, and after spending twelve 
years in Holland, they went to England to join the 
company of Pilgrims about to leave that country for the 
New World. 

ioo. The Pilgrims go to America. 

The Separatist Puritans sailed from Plymouth, Eng- 
land, Sept. 6, 1620, in a little ship called the May- 
flower. There were one hundred and two in the party, 
men, women and children, though not all were Separa- 
tists. They now began to call themselves Pilgrims, 
because they were wanderers. 

The Pilgrims meant to go to some point not very far 
from the Dutch settlement, but they were driven out of 
their course and went to the coast of New England. 
They had a copy of the John Smith map and used it in 
finding a harbor. Coming to a little bay which he had 
marked on the map as Plymouth, they landed and made 
their settlement. It was Dec. 22, 1620. 

December is a very cold month in New England. To 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 203 

come from the mild climate of Holland and to make 
a home on a bleak, wind-swept hillside, in the dead of 
a New England winter, with no food on shore and so 
little in the ship that the sailors needed it all, was a task 
that might well break the courage of the bravest soldier 
that ever went to battle. But these men, women, and 
children did this and never flinched. 

Before landing, the Pilgrims drew up a set of rules 
which all the men signed. It bound them to loyalty 
to the king and to the making of " just and equal laws 
for the general good of the colony." Thus they began 
with self-government, every man having an equal share. 
From that little beginning has grown the government 
of our great nation. They chose John Carver as their 
governor for one year. But before spring came, he, 
with his wife and son, had perished from the awful 
hardship of the winter. Then William Bradford was 
elected. By spring more than half of the Pilgrims had 
passed away, and of those who still lived a large part 
were sick and feeble. 

10 1. Treaty with the Indians. 

Before Governor Carver died, he made a treaty with 
the Indians of the country around, and thus the colony 
was safe from the savages. The Indians, being fairly 
treated, kept their faith for fifty years. As there was 
less abuse of the Indians here than there was at James- 
town, so there was less need of fighting men, though 



204 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Plymouth had its fighter in Myles Standish even as 
Jamestown had in John Smith. 

The Mayflower lay in the harbor until spring, and then 
went back to England. Of all the Pilgrims that were 
left alive, sick and suffering as they were, not one asked 
to be taken back in her. Of such stuff was the colony 
of Plymouth. 

In the spring an Indian, named Squanto, came to the 
Pilgrims and told them how he was nearly the last that 
was left of those who had lived at Plymouth, the rest 
having died of a catching disease. He had been kid- 
napped some years before and carried to Europe, but 
had made his way back. He taught them how to plant 
corn and showed them how to dig clams at the beach. 
The Pilgrims might have starved had it not been for 
Squanto. Massasoit was one of the chiefs who made 
a treaty with Governor Carver. He was much to them 
as Powhatan was to the Jamestown settlers. 

102. The Pilgrims Work and Prosper. 

The Plymouth settlers were deeply in debt for the 
expenses of their trip over the sea, and the burden was 
heavy, but they set about paying it and the interest on 
it with great vigor. The Mayflower made trips bring- 
ing supplies and immigrants, and taking back furs, 
clapboards, and such other things as the settlers could 
send to help pay the debt. They had no cattle for 
several years, and when they did have pigs, sheep, and 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 205 

cows, they had to watch them carefully or the wolves 
would get them. 

The soil was poor; they knew but little of farming, and 
their harvests were small. They suffered for food, but in 
a few years their industry showed its effect, and from then 
they had food in plenty. In ten or twelve years there 
came to be ten or twelve hundred people there. By that 
time other settlers, people of their own class in England, 
were coining to other points on the coast not far away, 
and the settlement of New England was well started. 

103. Puritans settle Salem. Massachusetts Bay Company. 

The trouble in England that caused the Pilgrims to 
quit the country grew worse as the years went on. In 
1625 King James died, and his son Charles became King 
Charles I. Like his father, he believed that he was 
king by the will of God, and that all Englishmen and 
all that they had were subject to his will. He was 
worse than his father had been, and the Puritan party 
in England, now becoming great and powerful, opposed 
him. Among the Puritans at home were now many 
men of great wealth and high standing. Many of these 
were watching Plymouth, ready to come to America 
themselves, if the chances seemed good enough. They 
were so pleased with the success of the colony that 
they made a new company, and a party, under a leader 
named Endicott, came and settled at a place which they 
called Salem, a Bible name meaning peace. 



206 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



MASSACHUSETTS 
OSTON 




Map of New England 

Soon after, the company, with many new members, 
got a charter from the king, which gave it more rights 
and a much better standing. It was now called the 
Massachusetts Bay Company. The king was very kind 
to the company. The Puritans of England were now 
making him feel uneasy, and he was glad to get as 
many of them as he could to leave England. 

104. Boston. 

In 1630 a great Puritan movement to Massachusetts 
began, and Boston was settled. As the Puritans kept 
coming, other towns were started, and soon people were 




207 



208 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

living at many points outlying from Boston. Massa- 
chusetts began to fill as Virginia did in later years. By 
1640 there were twenty thousand English people in 




Painting by Sir Anthony Vandyke, State House, Boston. 

Governor Winthrop 



Massachusetts. All were prospering, and John Smith's 
name for the country seemed a good one, for indeed 
a new England had sprung up in America. Under 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 209 

King Charles's charter, the governor and other officers 
of the company could be elected in Massachusetts. 
The officers of other companies had to be elected or 
appointed by the king in England. John Winthrop 
was the first governor. 

105. The General Court. 

The settlers that came to Massachusetts did not come 
each for himself; they came as parties. Mostly they 
came as church congregations, and each one started a 
church and a town for itself. The parish and the town 
were one. The Puritans in Massachusetts were a big- 
oted people. They would have no religion there but their 
own. None but Puritans were wanted, and unless a 
man in a town belonged to the church, he could not 
vote. The church was a part of the government as 
much as it was in England, only it was a different 
church. The meeting-house was used for both church 
services and town meetings, and the minister was a 
most important person. After a while, there were so 
many people and so many towns that a General 
Assembly was formed, much like that of Virginia. It 
was called the General Court. 

106. Business. 

Most of the soil of New England has always been poor. 
The winters are long, the summers are short, and such 
farming as brought wealth to the settlers of Jamestown 
could not be done in Massachusetts. At best, only 



210 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

such crops could be raised as would serve to feed the 
people of the colony. The goods sent away for sale were 
mainly salted fish and lumber. After a while the people 
went into shipbuilding largely, and to trading with 
distant countries, and into the whale fishery. 

107. Connecticut. 

The Puritans came to New England to have their 
own way in matters of religion and taxes. They had 
a habit of wanting their own way and daring much to 
get it. So it might well be expected that some of them 
would want their own way after they got to New Eng- 
land, and they did. It might be expected, too, that 
they would take steps to have it, and they did. 

In 1636 there were two parties in Massachusetts. 
One of these held that the government ought to be in 
the hands of a few of the wisest and best men, while 
the other claimed that the majority of all should rule, 
as was the plan at the start. Out of these different 
views came the formation of a party of about a hundred 
men, women, and children, under Minister Hooker, 
who took it west into a beautiful valley where a settle- 
ment in 1636 was made, at Hartford, on the Connecticut 
River. In 1638 a colony of Puritans from England 
settled what is now New Haven. Other parties followed ; 
and thus Hartford and some other towns began. In a 
few years the Connecticut colonies united and had a 
constitution, or set of rules, the first ever drawn up in 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 211 

the world, by which they were to be governed. For 
many years, even after the colony became one of the 
United States, Connecticut had two capitals, Hartford 
and New Haven. 

108. Roger Williams; Rhode Island. 

It was the law in Massachusetts that though only 
church members could vote, all people had to pay taxes 
to keep the churches up. And whether they liked it 
or not, all people had to go to church every Sunday, 
or be punished. There were other laws that to many 
seemed very unfair. Among those who thought the 
laws were wrong was a young minister at Salem, named 
Roger Williams. Though he knew his course would 
bring down on him the wrath of those who ruled the 
town, he boldly stated that the people and the church 
were wrong in many things and that they ought to change 
the laws. 

" No man," said he, " should be made to go to church 
or to listen to any preaching that he does not like. Hence, 
he should not be made to help in paying ministers for 
preaching things that he may think are wrong, and he 
should not be punished for staying away from church. Let 
him be persuaded in matters of religion, but not driven." 
He also took up the cause of the poor Indian, and de- 
clared that taking his lands from him was robbery and 
theft such as no Christian should commit. " You say 
the king gave you the land," said he, " but the king 



212 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



never owned it; hence, his gift is of no account. To 
buy it from the Indians is the only honest way in which 
you can make it yours." 

What Williams said about freedom of choice in reli- 
gion might not have brought him trouble, for there 
were many among the Puritans who thought as he did. 




Roger Williams welcomed by the Narragansett Indians 

But what he said about the Indian and his land was 
very likely to offend the king, who claimed that all 
America was his to give away or sell, no matter what 
the Indians might think. There was already danger 
that the king might take away the charter of the Massa- 
chusetts Bay Company, and the Puritans feared to stir 
up his anger. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 213 

So, more to save themselves than to punish Williams, 
they made him leave the colony. He might have gone 
to Maryland, for there he could believe and talk as he 
pleased, but he chose to stay in New England. He 
knew where there were Indians who were friendly to 
him because of what he had said for them, and there 
he went, through the forest in the depth of winter, to 
the Narragansett Indians. At the head of Narragan- 
sett Bay, he started a settlement in 1635, which was 
the beginning of the colony of Rhode Island. He said 
that God had provided for him, so he named his settle- 
ment Providence, the name it still bears. He built 
at Providence a church, the first Baptist church in 
America. 

Soon after Williams was driven away, there came 
a Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, who preached to the people 
of Boston and said things that the other Puritans did 
not like. They drove her away, and she, with some 
of her friends, went beyond where Williams had gone, and 
bought from the Indians an island now known as Rhode 
Island. Her settlement afterward became the town 
of Portsmouth, and that of her friend Coddington be- 
came Newport. The settlements of the Providence 
Plantations and those on Rhode Island were centers to 
which free-minded people came, and from them grew the 
colony of Rhode Island. The true name of the colony, 
and in our day of the state, is Rhode Island and Provi- 
dence Plantations. The colony, and for many years 



214 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

the state, had two capitals, Providence and Newport. 
Providence is now the capital. 

109. Slave Ships. 

At about the time when Hooker was going to Con- 
necticut, and Williams and the Hutchinson party were 
settling in the Narragansett country, the people of the 
seaport towns were building vessels. One of these, 
the Desire, built at Marblehead, went to Africa and 
brought back a load of slaves. The negroes were sold 
to people of New England. Afterward New England 
ports often sent out slave ships to Africa to bring back 
negroes to sell to the people in all the colonies. 

no. Maine and New Hampshire. 

There were no fixed boundaries then to Massachusetts. 
About twenty years after Popham's settlement on the 
Kennebec failed, and about six years after Plymouth 
was settled, the country lying north and east of Massa- 
chusetts was granted by the king to two Englishmen, 
Mason and Gorges, who were unfriendly to the Puritans. 
They soon divided it, Mason calling his part New Hamp- 
shire and Gorges calling his Maine. Settlements were 
made at Biddeford and at Portland. After Gorges 
died, in 1677, his heirs sold Maine to Massachusetts. 

When Mrs. Hutchinson and her company left Massa- 
chusetts for Rhode Island, others of her friends went up 
into New Hampshire and settled Exeter. Soon after 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 215 

that, New Hampshire became a part of Massachusetts 
and so remained until 1680, when King Charles II made 
it a colony. 

in. Education in New England. 

The Puritans both in England and in America always 
wanted schools. In this they differed greatly from the 
English settlers in the south. The General Court 
founded a college at Newtown, in 1636, and soon after, 
Rev. John Harvard died and left it his library and a sum 
of money. From that time it was called Harvard Col- 
lege, and the town was called Cambridge after a college 
town in England. Three years later, there was a print- 
ing press at Cambridge, the first that America ever 
knew, except that the Spanish, a hundred years before 
this, had a printing press and newspaper in the city of 
Mexico. In 1639 there was a free school in Massachusetts, 
and soon after a law was passed that each town must 
have a free public school. This was the beginning of 
the great American free school system of our time. 

ii2. The Pequot War. 

Between the Narragansett Bay and the Hudson River 
dwelt three tribes of Indians, all of the Algonquin family. 
They were the Pequots, the Mohegans, and the Nar- 
ragansetts. The Mohegans and the Narragansetts were 
not friendly to the powerful and fierce Pequots, whose 
home was in the eastern part of Connecticut. 

In 1636 the Pequots murdered a party of traders 



216 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

under Captain Stone of Virginia. Several months after 
that, they sent messengers to Boston to make a treaty 
with the English, and one was made. It appeared after- 
ward that their desire for a treaty sprang from their 
fear of the Dutch and of the Narragansett Indians, 
with whom they expected war. But finding later that 
there was no danger of war, they broke their word and 
held the treaty that they had made as of no account. 

Some time later, John Oldham of Watertown, who 
traded with the Indians of Rhode Island and Connecti- 
cut, was killed on his vessel by the Pequots of Block 
Island. 

The Indians would not give up the murderers either 
of Oldham or of the Stone party, and it was plain that 
other murders of white people would follow, unless 
something was done to put a stop to such work. So, 
to punish the Pequots, the Massachusetts colony sent 
against them a fleet of five small vessels, with nearly 
a hundred men under John Endicott of Salem. The 
orders were to kill the men, but spare the women and 
children. Though the Indians came down to the 
water's edge and fought as well as they could with 
their bows and arrows, the boats from the vessels 
landed on the beach of Block Island. An arrow struck 
the helmet of Captain Underhill and glanced off. He 
had worn the helmet only to please his wife. After 
the fight he wrote in his diary, "Let no man despise 
advice and counsel from his wife, though she be a woman." 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 217 

The Indians fell back and hid, and though the English 
hunted for two days, they could not find them. Then, 
after destroying all the growing crops and the houses 
of the Indians and all their canoes, Endicott and his 
force sailed away and left the Indians to starve. So 
were the Block Island Indians made sorry that they 
had murdered Oldham. 

The fleet made its way to the mouth of the Pequot 
River to find the Indians who had killed Stone. About 
three hundred of the red men were there, and a landing 
was made. The Indians fell back, followed by the whites, 
the running fight being one of arrows against muskets. 
The Indian village of Pequot town was reached and 
destroyed. A few Indians were killed. 

The fleet now made its way back to Boston, stopping 
at points on the way to burn wigwams and spoil the 
growing crops of the Pequots. Not a white man was 
hurt during the whole trip. It was thought that this 
raid would frighten the. Indians as the one did which 
was made by Myles Standish long ago. The thought 
was wrong. The Indians were now as angry as a 
stirred-up swarm of wasps. From this time they made 
open war and killed every white person they could reach. 

There was a fort at Saybrook, at the mouth of the 
Connecticut River, built by the English to keep the 
Dutch from taking the valley, and the Indians lay 
in wait, day after day, and killed such of the small 
garrison as they could catch outside. They hung about 



218 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

every settlement and killed or captured every one who 
strayed within their reach. They carried away all the 
farm animals they could get. 

Runners were sent by the Pequots to the other tribes 
to get them to unite with them to kill all the English 
in the country. If the other tribes had joined them, 
the Indians might indeed have destroyed every settle- 
ment. There was one man, and only one in the whole 
country, who could prevent a rising of all the tribes. 
That man was Roger Williams. Learning what the 
Pequots were doing, he went in his canoe, through a 
severe storm, to the chief of the Narragansetts. There 
he met the runners from the Pequots, who urged war, 
while he pleaded for peace. For three days he labored, 
not knowing at what moment the Pequot runners 
would spring upon him. The Narragansetts were not 
friendly with the Pequots. This fact, together with 
their respect for Williams, kept them from taking the 
warpath against the whites. Williams had his way, 
and thus returned good for evil to the colony that had 
driven him into the wilderness. 

The Pequots must be put down. Connecticut raised 
a force of nearly a hundred men, some of whom were 
from Massachusetts. This was joined by some Mohegan 
Indians, old foes of the Pequots, who were glad of a 
chance to fight them. Early in June, 1637, this force 
marched against the Pequots who were found in a fort 
which they had built for safety. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 219 

The onset was made just before daylight. The Eng- 
lish broke in, fired the wigwams, and shot the Indians 
as they rushed out. They killed more than four hundred 
in the fort, — men, women, and children, — and chased 
those who got away for miles, shooting them down as 
fast as they came up with them. Such women and 
children as the English caught were sent to the West 
Indies and sold for slaves. At length the very few who 
remained alive begged the English to save them from 
their Indian foes. Thus, in a day, the great Pequot 
tribe was almost entirely destroyed. They lost even 
their name, for the Pequot River was renamed the 
Thames, and Pequot town became New London. This 
terrible example had such effect on all the Indians of 
New England that it was forty years before any of 
the tribes again made war on the whites. 

113. The New England Confederation. 

One of the lessons of the Pequot War was that the 
colonies of New England ought to stand together. Other 
Indian wars might come. The Dutch might come 
from New Amsterdam and try to take the Connecticut 
Valley away from the English settlers there, as it was 
known they meant to do. The French might come 
down from Canada to take the whole country, which 
they said was theirs. And there was likely to be trouble 
with the king, for he was beginning to think that the 
New England people were having more liberties and 



220 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

privileges than a king ought to allow any of his people 
to enjoy. 

So, in 1643, for their own protection, the colonies, 
all but Rhode Island, formed a union. The people 




Chaeles I 

of Rhode Island were too free in their views of the 
rights of man to be liked by some of the colonies, so that 
little colony was left out. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 221 

The Union did not make any one colony subject to 
any of the others. Each still had full control of its 
own affairs, but meetings were often held to talk over 
and agree upon things for the good of all. New England 
now had not far from twenty-five thousand people, about 
one in five being American-born. 

This was about the time when the Puritans of Eng- 
land rose in war against King Charles I. The Puri- 
tans now stopped coming to America. They stayed at 
home to fight the king's army, which was trying to 
put them down. King Charles, also, was so busy at 
home that he could not meddle with things in America. 
He laid by, for the time, several plans that he had 
made which would have hurt the New England colo- 
nies. At the end he lost his life, and those plans were 
never taken up. 

114. The Navigation Laws. 

After King Charles had lost his throne and his life at 
the hands of the Puritans of England, Cromwell ruled 
for several years and did the best that he could for the 
English people. The welfare of England seemed to 
depend on her shipping business, which extended all 
over the world. As the Dutch were in the same business 
and were getting the ocean-carrying trade away from 
the English, Cromwell thought something should be done 
to head them off. In 1651 laws were passed that none 
but English ships should be allowed to bring goods 



222 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

to England. This shut out the Dutch vessels from 
English trade and kept it for those of the English. 
These laws were called The Navigation Laws. 

115. Other Bad Laws. 

After some years the Cromwell rule ended, and Charles 
II became king. He was a tyrant as his father had 
been, and he added to the Navigation Laws some new 
ones that bore very heavily on the New England colonies. 
He wanted to get as much business as possible for the 
English at home, and cared very little whether the colo- 
nies did well or not. So he had laws made that forbade 
the colonies to send their tobacco to any but English coun- 
tries. That meant that they could not sell to Holland, 
France, Spain, or to any other nation but England. Of 
course, if they could sell to the English only, the English 
would pay just what they pleased, and no more. The 
colonists must take what the English merchants chose 
to offer, or they could not sell their tobacco and other 
things at all. They soon found that they could not 
get enough for tobacco to pay for raising it. This 
law nearly ruined the planters of Virginia and made 
many of them enemies to the king. 

Another law was worse. It forbade the people of the 
colonies to buy any goods of any country but England. 
It forbade the colonies to trade with each other for such 
goods as each made. Thus the colonists were forced to 
to buy the things that they must have of Englishmen, 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 223 

at any price the English chose to ask. Another law 
forbade the colonists to make any articles for their own 
use, when such articles could be bought in England. 
All of these laws were meant to rob the people of the 
colonies in order to help people in England. This last 
law bore very heavily on the New England colonies, 
and turned the people very much against the king. 

116. When New Netherland became New York. 

In 1664, the people of New England were pleased at 
the action of King Charles II in taking New Netherland 
from the Dutch. It put an end to the claim the Dutch 
had always made to the Connecticut River country, 
and it gave to England a solid strip of country all along 
the coast. The colonies of New England and Virginia 
welcomed New York as a sister English colony, and 
Englishmen began to go there, though the people of 
New York were mainly Dutch. It pleased the people 
of all the colonies when, at about the same time, King 
Charles gave to some of his friends a vast tract of land 
south of Virginia, which they named Carolina. It began 
to look as though England was getting a firm hold on 
the Atlantic coast clear down to where the Spanish 
were in Florida. 

117. King Philip's War. 

The Indians who lived in the land about Plymouth 
were the Pocanokets, by some called the Wampanoags. 



224 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

They dwelt along the shore line clear to the country 
of Narragansett Bay, where lived the Narragansetts, 
with whom they were not friendly most of the time. 

Very soon after the coming of the Pilgrims, when 
that part of their country which was near to Plymouth 
had been swept by a strange and deadly disease, the 
Wampanoags, through their chief, Massasoit, made a 
treaty with the English. This treaty bound them to 
friendship with the whites. They were to help the whites 
against any foes, and, in the same way, the whites were 
to help the Indians. They needed the treaty, for they 
were in fear of the Narragansetts who might at any time 
make war upon them. They were weak from loss by 
disease, and, in case of war, they could hardly stand 
against the Narragansetts without help. 

Both Massasoit and the people of Plymouth kept the 
treaty for many years. It was well for the white men 
that Massasoit was their friend, and well for him that 
he could depend on the white men. There were times 
when the Narragansetts, had they not feared the white 
soldiers, would have gone to war with the Wampanoags. 

The years went by, and more and more people came to 
New England, until there were many settlements in 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. 

The Pequots in their war on the English would 
perhaps have killed them all, if Massasoit had not held 
back his Indians, and also the Narragansetts. 

At one time Massasoit knew of a plot of the tribes 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 225 

to rise against the whites, and he was sorely tempted 
to say nothing to the Plymouth people about it. He 
was taken sick at that time, and since the ■ Indians knew 
but little of the doctor's art, he was very near death. 

As it happened, the people at Plymouth heard of his 
illness, and Governor Winslow set out to visit him. He 
found the old chief very ill of a fever and very weak for 
want of care. The old Indian knew Winslow when he 
came to the wigwam, and told him that he was about 
to go to the happy hunting grounds. " Not yet," said 
Winslow,. " I have come to save you, and I think I can. 
I will stay here and nurse you and doctor you in the 
white man's way." 

Massasoit soon grew better and in a few days was well. 
" White man," said he, " you have saved my life. Now, 
I will save yours and the lives of your friends." And 
he told Winslow about the plot of the Indians, so that 
the settlers took steps to prevent the rising, and there 
was no war. 

In 1660, Massasoit, grown old and feeble, passed away. 
He left two sons, Wamsutta and Metacomet. Wam- 
sutta was now chief of the Pocanokets. The two young 
Indians, seeing how mighty the English were growing 
in the land, felt that it would be wise to be at peace 
with them, as their father had been. They went to 
Plymouth, and Metacomet made a treaty of peace with 
the English. To show their good faith, they said that 
they would take English names, and they asked the 



226 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

white men to say what they should be. The English 
said that Metacomet should be called Philip, and Wam- 
sutta should -be called Alexander. They went back to 
their own country and told their followers of the treaty 
they had made. 

Alexander found it hard to hold the young men of 
his tribe to the treaty. They saw how the English had 
pushed them back, year after year, from their hunting 
grounds. They complained that, of all the great range 
they once had, what was left now was only a little 
neck of land running into Narragansett Bay. 

" Who has the land we once hunted over all the way 
from Mount Hope to Plymouth?" they asked. "The 
English." " How long will they let us stay in the little 
corner where we now are? Let us fight the white man 
while we can. Let us win back the lands which the 
white man now holds by cheating." 

Alexander had made the treaty. Should he keep it, 
as his father had done, or should he yield to his people 
and become the foe of the white men by breaking it? 
In his heart he believed that his young men were right. 

The Pocanokets and the Narragansetts were near 
neighbors now, and it was easy for the chiefs of the two 
tribes to meet. They did meet often, and no doubt 
they found much to say about the fate that seemed in 
store for both tribes. Perhaps they felt that the Indians 
of all the tribes had made a mistake when, long ago, 
the Pequots made war on the English and they did not 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 227 

help them. We may fancy that they felt sad to think 
that while the great white danger to the red race hung 
over them, the tribes had been foolish enough to fight 
among themselves, when they might have striven together 
to cast out the common foe. 

There were among the Indians of New England many 
who had become Christians under the teachings of the 
English. The English had printed the Bible in the 
Indian language and had taught many of them to read 
it. Some Indians had been students in Harvard Col- 
lege. These Christians among the red men were known 
as " Praying Indians/' and they were not much liked by 
the others. They were so friendly to the whites that 
they were talebearers, and through them the whites 
learned what was going on in the tribes. 

Some Praying Indians told the whites at Plymouth 
of these meetings of the chiefs, and at once the English 
sent word to Alexander that he must come to Plymouth 
and explain. He did not go. But when Winslow came 
with some soldiers and threatened to shoot him if he 
did not come, he changed his mind and went. It hurt 
his pride sorely that these strangers should thus force him 
to do that which was against his will, but he kept his 
anger down and went. 

After a talk with the English, he started home. While 
on the way, his state of mind brought on a fever, and he 
died a few days after he reached his home. His people 
mourned for him, and, believing that the insults of the 



228 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



English had broken his heart and caused his death, 
they nursed their hatred of them. 

Philip now became chief of the Pocanokets. He 




From an old print. 



King Philip 



made a new treaty with the English that the Pocanokets 
should be peaceful and friendly. But his heart was heavy. 
Five years passed, and as they went by, he saw the Eng- 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 229 

lish gaining in numbers all the time, their settlements 
growing larger, and new ones being made. He saw, too, 
that the Indians were less in number and that they 
were falling back from the hunting grounds that had 
fed their fathers from times too far back to be re- 
membered. He saw what the end must be. 

In 1671, Philip was called by the English to come to 
Taunton. They said he was plotting, as his brother 
Alexander had been before him. He went with a few 
of his men and made a speech. He said that he was 
the friend of the whites, as his great father, Massasoit, 
had been before him. Said he, " I know how you 
stood by the Pocanokets in my father's time, when after 
the great sickness had carried off our warriors and left 
us weak, there was danger to our tribe from the Nar- 
ragansetts. We will not forget that. We will remain 
at peace with you. If you doubt what I say, take 
some of our weapons, which we will give up to you, as 
a token that we will keep the peace." 

So well did Philip plead his case that the English let him 
and his party go home and did not take any of their arms. 

But, however well Philip meant to keep his word, he 
could not control his young men. They smarted under 
the treatment the English gave the tribe. They re- 
membered Alexander's death, and, Indian-like, they 
knew of but one way to do under insult. Weetamoe, 
Alexander's widow, herself the squaw sachem of the 
Pocanokets of Tiverton, was always crying for venge- 



230 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

ance on those who had caused her husband's death. 
The blood of the young braves was always hot with 
anger and a desire to fight. So it was very hard for 
Philip, who was wiser than they, to hold them back. 

Again the Praying Indians carried tales to Plymouth, 
and again Philip was called to meet the English and 
explain. This time they made him give up some of his 
guns. The English feared to have guns in the hands 
of the Indians. 

The Pocanokets were furious when they learned that 
their guns had been given up. They had got them from 
the English in exchange for land. " Now," they said, 
" the English cheat us, rob us, and insult us. We will 
fight. Are you chief of the Pocanokets, Metacomet, 
or are you a woman ? With you, or without you, we will 
fight." Said Weetamoe, " Are you the son of Massasoit? 
Are you the brother of Wamsutta ? Or are you a woman ? 
Will you fight ? I have three hundred braves at Pocas- 
set who will join you. Will you fight ? " 

Philip was no woman. Philip was a chief; son of 
a chief; grandson of a long line of chiefs who had never 
known fear. But, wiser than his followers, he saw that 
blind, foolish fighting could end in but one way. He 
knew the fate of the Pequots, and he knew that the 
only hope his tribe could have in fighting the English 
lay in a war in which all the tribes should join. He 
told his warriors, and he told Weetamoe, that he would 
fight. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 231 

" But not yet," said he. "There shall be war, 
and since it will be a war that will wipe from the earth 
either these English or our tribe, we must go about 
it carefully. Let us not lose before we begin by being 
in haste." 

The Praying Indians were about, and soon the English 
at Plymouth knew what was being said at Mount Hope. 
They sent for Philip. He would not go. He began to 
plan an attack on all the settlements by all the tribes. 
He told Sausamon, one of the Praying Indians, some 
of his plans, and at once Sausamon told the English. 

Not long after this Sausamon was murdered. Three 
of Philip's men were taken by the English, tried for the 
murder, convicted, and put to death. This deepened 
the anger of the Pocanokets. Roger Williams said it 
was a sad mistake, for it would make the Indians insane 
with rage. 

Now that the English knew his plans, Philip had to 
move quickly and begin the war before he was ready. 
In great haste, he sent runners far and wide among the 
tribes, calling for a meeting at Mount Hope. At the 
gathering, which followed, he made a speech, and urged 
the Indians to make one great effort to save their race. 
He pledged himself to fight as long as a warrior was 
left alive. It was agreed that the war should begin as 
soon as they could get some more men and guns. 

But Philip's hot-headed young braves could not be 
held back. Some of them began at once to fight the 



232 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

English, each for himself without orders from the chief, 
and the war was on before Philip was ready for it. 

In the spring of 1675 the little town of Swanzey, 
near Mount Hope, was attacked by the Indians, and 
several men were killed. At once, the English rallied 
from the many towns of New England and marched 
against Mount Hope to give battle to Philip and his 
men. The Indians fled across an arm of the bay to 
Weetamoe's country, then called Pocasset, but now 
called Tiverton. From there, burning and killing as 
they went, they made their way up into the middle part 
of Massachusetts. There Philip was joined by Indians 
from other tribes, and the work of destroying outlying 
settlements began. Weetamoe's three hundred braves 
went with him, and before the war ended every one of 
them was killed. Deerfield and other little towns were 
burned, and many men, women, and children were 
murdered. 

At every village attacked, the English fought as men 
will fight to save their wives and children from torture 
and death, and many Indians were killed. As the 
autumn passed and winter came on, Philip began to 
work back to the Rhode Island country to try to get 
the Narragansetts to join him and to feed his warriors. 

Canonchet was chief of the Narragansetts. The two 
tribes had never been very friendly. It was the great 
weakness of the American Indians that they fought so 
much among themselves. But the Mohegans were 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 233 

helping the English against Philip in this war, and 
Canonchet hated them because, years before, they had 
killed his father. So he took sides now with the Poca- 
nokets, and together the two tribes prepared to pass the 
winter and take the warpath in the spring. 

Canonchet knew of a good place to build a fort in his 
own country, and the Indians went there. It was a 
hillock in the middle of a swamp, not far from the west 
bank of the mouth of Narragansett Bay, in what is now 
the town of South Kingston, Rhode Island. Around the 
camp, they built a fence of logs which they stood upon 
end in the ground. Within this circle, they built their 
wigwams and stored their corn, and more than three 
thousand of them took up their abode there for the 
winter. They felt sure that if the English found them, 
they could hold the fort. 

It was now December in the winter of 1675. The 
war had raged since the early spring. The English had 
no mind to let the Indians rest till the coming spring. 
They sent out friendly Indians to hunt for the camp of 
Philip and Canonchet, and it was soon found. 

Governor Winslow of Plymouth, with a thousand 
soldiers from all the colonies, attacked the fort one 
bitter cold day just after noon. After several hours of 
fighting, in which many of Winslow's men were killed, 
the fence of logs was broken through, and the English 
rushed in. Then the battle was hand to hand. Soon 
the wigwams were on fire, and the Indians rushed away 



234 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

defeated. About a thousand were killed, and the rest, 
among whom were Philip and Canonchet, got away. 

To lose a thousand men in a single fight was a terrible 
blow to Philip, for his force was small at best. But 
he kept up the war and made his way with his men 
northward into the middle of Massachusetts again, 
where he ravaged some more towns. 

Spring was now coming on, and the Indians knew 
that they could not go on without food. Canonchet and 
many of the Narragansetts now went back to their own 
country to plant corn. But they were not allowed to 
rest in peace there. The English kept after them, with 
the Mohegans to help. 

A raid was made on Canonchet's village, and, though 
he tried to escape, he was taken. They promised him 
his life if he would tell them how they could take Philip. 
But he refused. Then they turned him over to the 
Mohegans, who killed him. 

The death of Canonchet left but little hope for the 
Indians. The war was lost. But Philip would not give 
up. By this time the Indians as far away as Maine were 
murdering the whites wherever they could find them. 

As the war went on, many of Philip's men left him, 
and hundreds more were killed. In one fight, at Tur- 
ner's Falls in Massachusetts, where Philip was raising 
corn and salting fish to feed his Indians in the next 
year's war, they lost three hundred warriors. The 
English took Philip's wife and son. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 235 

When the chieftain heard of this, his heart was broken. 
" There is nothing left in life," said he. "I will go to 
Mount Hope to die." One of his men asked him to yield 
to the English. For answer he struck the man dead. 

Philip hid away from the English for a time, but he 
was betrayed. A brother of the Indian he killed, told 
the English where he was, and they came at midnight 
and surrounded the place. When day broke, the Indians 
saw that the whites were posted all around them, and 
they tried to break away. As Philip ran through a 
marsh, he was shot by an Indian who was helping the 
English. So Philip died. 

The war went on for many months in Massachusetts, 
but the Pocanokets and the Narragansetts were lost as 
tribes. Of the few that were left, many went to the 
west and lived with other tribes, while a few went to 
Maine to join the Indians who were righting there. Like 
the Pequots, they were known no more as a tribe. Many 
of the stragglers who were taken by the English, were 
put to death, and hundreds were sent to the West Indies 
and sold for slaves. 

While the war was going on in the southern part of 
New England under Philip and Canonchet, the Indians 
of Maine began fighting the whites. This came about 
partly because the whites had abused them, partly because 
they tried to help Philip against the common foe, and 
partly because they were urged to it by the French. 
There was a Frenchman, known as Baron Castin, who had 



236 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

married the daughter of a chief and who lived at what is 
now the town of Castine. He furnished the Indians with 
guns and urged them on to fight the English. Many- 
towns were attacked in Maine, and the war dragged along 
for years after peace was made in Massachusetts. 

118. Massachusetts loses its Charter. 

Many of the people of Massachusetts did not obey 
the navigation laws. They sold their goods wherever 
they could and bought goods wherever they pleased, 
and what they bought, they smuggled in. They were 
also very stiff-necked about managing their own affairs. 

King Charles II began to quarrel with Massachusetts, 
and in 1680 he took away New Hampshire, which he 
made a province by itself. In 1684 he declared the char- 
ter of Massachusetts to be void, and thus the Massachu- 
setts Bay Company came to its end. This took away the 
rights of the people to govern themselves and left things 
in bad shape. Before Charles could go on to show what 
he meant to do, he died, and his brother James II became 
king. James was the one to whom Charles had given 
New York. 

119. James II and Andros. 

James II, at once, began to stir up things in the colonies. 
In 1686, he sent a man over to be governor of New York, 
New Jersey, and the New England colonies. He said 
one governor was enough for all; and he told Sir Ed- 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 237 

mund Andros, the man whom he sent, to take up the 
charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island. When that 
had been done all the colonies would be without char- 
ters, and he could deal with them, through Andros, just 
as he pleased. Andros, however, failed to get the charter 
of Connecticut. The most he could do was to declare 
that the government of that colony was ended. 

Andros governed very harshly and unfairly for some 
years, much as a Stuart king might wish him to; but 
the end was coming. King James had his troubles in 
Europe, and in 1688 the people of England rose against 
him, and he was driven from the throne. As soon as 
the people of Boston learned that the tyrant king was 
out of power, they put Andros in prison and kept him 
there until, when they were ready, they sent him to 
England. 

Andros was not in himself a bad man. He simply 
acted as the king had told him to. In 1692, under a 
better king, he went to Virginia and served as governor 
for six years, and was liked by the people. He had 
much to do with the founding of William and Mary's 
College, the second college in America. 

William III, who reigned after James II, was a good 
king, one of the best England ever had. He was just 
and fair as far as he could be, not only to the people 
in England, but to those of the colonies. He ruled 
Holland as well as England; so that, of course, during 
his reign those two nations were at peace. He died 



238 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



in 1702, and " Good Queen Anne " began her reign. 
During his reign the New England colonies prospered, 




Painting by John Closterman. 



Queen Anne 

and none more than Massachusetts, under its new char- 
ter, which united with it Plymouth colony and Maine. 

Massachusetts took a leading part in fighting the 
Canadian French in King William's War, which lasted 



THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 239 

from 1689 to 1697. Two thousand men went from that 
colony to the French Province of Acadia, or Nova Scotia 
as it is now called, and captured it. By the treaty of 
peace at the end of the war, it went back to France. 

SUMMARY 

1. The Plymouth Company attempted to make a settlement 

in Maine in 1607. This attempt ended in failure. 

2. Captain John Smith explored the New England coast 

from Cape Cod to the Penobscot River in 1614. He 
made a valuable map of the coast. 

3. The Pilgrims land at Plymouth in' 1620. 

4. Massachusetts Bay Company settled at Salem, 1626. Bos- 

ton was settled in 1630. 

5. The English from Massachusetts made a settlement on 

the Connecticut River at Hartford in 1636. In 1638, 
the Puritans settled New Haven. 

6. Roger Williams started a settlement at Providence, Rhode 

Island, 1635. 

7. Maine became part of Massachusetts in 1677. 

8. The Pequot War ended in 1637, in the almost entire 

destruction of that tribe. 

9. The Navigation Laws and other harsh measures passed 

in England bore heavily upon the colonies. 

10. England took possession of New Netherland in 1664. 

11. King Philip's War took place 1675-1676. By it the 

Pocanoket and the Narragansett tribes were destroyed. 

12. Charles II took away the charter of the Massachusetts 

Bay Company in 1684. 

13. Sir Edmund Andros was sent over to be governor of New 

York, New Jersey, and the New England colonies in 
1686. He was afterward deposed and was later governor 
of Virginia. 



240 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



• QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 

1. Was any attempt made by England to plant a settlement 

on our northern coast before the landing of the Pilgrims ? 
What company made this attempt ? On what part of 
the coast did it try to make a settlement ? 

2. Who explored and made a map of our New England coast 

six years before the landing of the Pilgrims? 

3. When did the Pilgrims first land on our shores ? When 

were Boston and Salem settled ? 

4. When were the settlements made in the Connecticut 

Valley? Where? By whom? 

5. Who started the first English settlement in Rhode Island ? 

6. To whom was the country north and east of Massachusetts 

granted ? What was this country called ? When did 
Maine become part of Massachusetts? 

7. What caused the Pequot War? Give an account of it. 

8. What laws were passed in England that were unjust to 

the colonies? 

9. When did New Netherland become an English colony? 

10. What was the cause of King Philip's War? Give an 

account of it. 

11. When did the Massachusetts Bay Company lose its charter ? 

Why? 

12. Whom did Charles II send over to be governor of the New 

England colonies? 



CHAPTER IX 

THE ENGLISH IN MARYLAND AND OTHER COLONIES 
120. Lord Baltimore; his Newfoundland Colony. 

In 1621, the year when the Pilgrims were facing death 
in starting their settlement at Plymouth, King James I 
of England gave to one of his friends an estate in Ireland 
called Baltimore. After that the man to whom this 
estate was given, George Calvert, was called Lord Balti- 
more. Calvert was at one time a partner in the London 
Company that settled Jamestown, and he took quite an 
interest in America. Two years later, 1623, the king 
gave him a tract of land in Newfoundland. 

He sent a few men to his Newfoundland grant, and, 
four years after the king gave it to him, he went him- 
self to look it over and see what could be done with 
it. He found that the country was cold and bleak, 
that the summer season was too short for farming to 
pay, and that his settlers could make their living only 
by fishing; for codfish were plenty along the coast. 

Calvert wenf back to England and came out a year 
later with some more men. But there was no use in 
trying to make a colony so far north. In 1629, he 
wrote to James' son, Charles I, who was now king, and 

r 241 



242 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

asked him for some land near the Jamestown settlement 
where the climate was good. 




Henrietta Maeia 

i2i. An English Catholic Colony. 

Calvert was a Catholic and had many strong friends 
among the Catholics of England. Charles, the king, 
gave him the grant which he asked for. The king's 



THE ENGLISH IN MARYLAND 



243 







Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey 

wife was Henrietta Maria, and in her honor the new 
colony was called Maryland. 

While Maryland was a Catholic colony, people of all 
beliefs were made welcome there. Maryland was the 
first English colony where people could follow any 
religion they pleased. 

The grant made to Calvert was of land on the north 
side of the Potomac River, from its source to the point 
where it enters Chesapeake Bay, and north of a line 



244 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

across the bay at that point and straight beyond to the 
ocean. This gave Calvert both sides of the upper half 
of Chesapeake Bay. The grant ran north to the fortieth 
parallel of latitude. 

It was not until 1632 that the grant was really made, 
and by that time Calvert was dead. It was made to 
his son Cecil, who was now the second Lord Baltimore, 
and the first Proprietor of Maryland. 

Maryland had a government different from that of 
Virginia on the other side of the Potomac. Cecil Cal- 
vert was the owner, and he could govern it much as the 
owner of a farm could control things about his place. 
He could make laws, set up courts, pardon convicts, 
issue coins, and in all things do much as a king might. 
Such colonies were called proprietary colonies, because 
they belonged to owners or proprietors. Of course, 
the owners and all under them were subject to the king. 
Calvert had to send two Indian arrows each year to the 
king to show that he held himself to be one of his 
subjects. 

122. Settlement of Maryland. 

The first settlement was made in 1634, when two 
ships from England, with over three hundred people, 
came up the bay. A landing was made at a place which 
they named St. Mary's. Lord Baltimore did not come. 
In his place he sent his brother, Leonard Calvert. 

The Indians were friendly, for they were well treated 



THE ENGLISH IN MARYLAND 245 

by the settlers, and the friendship then begun was never 
broken. At once, the building of houses and the plant- 
ing of fields began. 




Unknown painter. 

Cecil Calvert, Second Lord Baltimore 

The people of Virginia were much displeased to have 
the new colony settle where it did. They claimed that 
the Maryland grant took land which belonged to the 



246 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Jamestown colony. Indeed, there were Virginia people 
already living within its bounds and trading there. 
James I, the father of King Charles, had taken away 
the Virginia charter. Otherwise, the Maryland grant 
could not have been made; and the Virginians expected 
to have their old charter back at the hands of King 
Charles. They now saw that there was ho hope for their 
ever getting the Maryland country back, whatever might 
happen. 

123. Claiborne's Rebellion. 

Among the Virginians, who hated the Maryland colony, 
was a planter, named William Claiborne, who used to 
go with others to Kent Island, in Chesapeake Bay, to 
trade with the Indians. He had a small trading post 
there, and although Kent Island was a part of Mary- 
land, he would not give it up. He declared that the 
Maryland people must keep away from that island. 
The Virginians and those living in Maryland before 
Baltimore's settlers came, sided with Claiborne, and there 
was some fighting before the matter was settled. It 
ended in Kent Island remaining a part of Maryland 
and under Baltimore's rule. 

124. Maryland a Royal Province. 

Many Puritans and some Church, of England people 
came to Maryland. About a thousand Puritans came 
at one time, being driven from Virginia. The Puritans 



THE ENGLISH IN PENNSYLVANIA 247 

settled at a point where Annapolis now is. After the 
people of Maryland had wrangled among themselves 
for many years, King William III made the colony 
a royal province in 1692, and it remained so until 1715, 
when it was given over to the fourth Lord Baltimore. 
It remained a proprietary colony until it became one 
of the United States in the course of time. The city 
of Baltimore was not laid out until 1729-1730. 

Except for the many quarrels among the people, 
Maryland was always prosperous, for there were many 
waterways, and the climate and soil were good. The 
chief crops were corn and tobacco. 

125. The English in Pennsylvania; the Quakers. 

At the time when the Puritans were fighting Charles I 
in England, a sect of Christians grew up there which 
others called Quakers, while they called themselves 
Friends. The first of the Quakers were simple people of 
the lower classes, but their beliefs were such that many 
people, some in the higher classes, joined them. Very 
soon there were Quakers in many parts of the world. 

They were not only against the ways of the Church 
of England, they were Separatists from all churches. 
They went far beyond even Roger Williams in their 
claims for freedom for men in religious affairs. Because 
they thought it wrong, they would not make oath 
when called to court as witnesses. They held that 
in the sight of God one person is just as good as another, 



248 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

so they would not take their hats off to any one, even to 
the king. They would not go to law, even though wrong 
were done them. Though no braver people ever lived, 
they would not fight, even to defend themselves. Their 
dress was very plain and simple; they wore no jewelry. 

126. William Penn. 

Among the friends of King Charles I was a great 
sea fighter named Penn, Admiral Penn. The admiral 
had won from the Spanish for England the Island of 
Jamaica, which she holds to this day. He had a young 
son named William, as fine a boy as there was in England. 
While he was at college he happened to meet some 
Quakers, and he became a Quaker himself. After that, 
he would not keep the rules of the college. He was 
punished by being fined and turned out, and his father 
was very angry with him. 

But William Penn was very much in earnest, and he 
kept on, wherever he went, preaching the simple faith 
of the Friends. Many people high in life, as well as 
those among the lowly, through his teachings joined 
the Quakers. His father, seeing how earnest he was 
in his course, came at length to admire him and took 
him back into his favor. 

The government in England held the Quakers to be 
guilty of crime, and thousands of them were thrown 
into prison. They began to leave England and to go 
to the colonies in America. But wherever they went, 







Drawing by A. C. Rheinhardt. 



Quakers on Trial 
249 



250 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

they were abused. They were whipped, imprisoned, 
tortured, and sometimes hanged. In Boston, four Quak- 
ers were thus put to death. 

William Penn, who was now doing all that he could 
to help the Quakers, got some other rich Quakers to 
join him, and they bought the western part of New 
Jersey. A larger company of Quakers came and made 
a settlement which is now the city of Burlington. 

127. Pennsylvania. 

Encouraged by the growth of the Burlington colony, 
Penn began looking about to find another place where 
a Quaker settlement could be planted. His father, 
the admiral, was now dead, and the king owed a large 
sum of money to young Penn, as the heir of the admiral. 
In payment of it, young Penn asked the king to give 
him a tract of land in America. The king agreed to 
this, and gave him for a colony forty-eight thousand 
square miles of land. The king named the colony 
Pennsylvania after Admiral Penn. This was in 1681. 

The land fronted on the Delaware River north of 
Maryland and Delaware, and ran back westward to 
a great distance. At a later time Penn gained control 
of Delaware. 

When Penn was ready to set sail on his first visit to 
his grant in America, he went to take leave of the king. 
Said the king, " I shall soon hear that the savages have 
devoured you." " Oh, no," said Penn, " I shall treat 



THE ENGLISH IN PENNSYLVANIA 



251 



them fairly, and buy their lands from them." " What ? " 
said the king, " buy the lands of the Indians after I have 
given them to you?" "But," said Penn, " you have 




William Penn 



no right to sell them." " I own them by right of dis- 
covery," said the king. " Ah, so you do," was Penn's 
reply. " And if a canoe full of savages should paddle 



252 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

from America to England and land, would they own all 
England by right of discovery? " 

First, Penn made a treaty with the Indians, whom he 
used so well that there never was any trouble with them. 
Then he set aside his great landhold to be used as a 
place to which suffering Quakers could flee for peace 
and safety. He did not stop at that, but declared that 
all men who suffered abuse for their religion, no matter 
what it was, could come there and be free. 

He was the proprietor of Pennsylvania. It was his 
to do with what he pleased. He could be a tyrant if he 
wished. But under some laws that he laid down, he 
left the government to the settlers to be carried on by 
a council and assembly, chosen by themselves. He was 
to be governor himself. 

The laws were mild and fair. One was that no one 
should make fun of another for his religious faith. An- 
other was that every child should learn a trade. An- 
other one was that Indians, if they were charged with 
crimes, should be tried by jury, as white men were. 
To make it sure that there should be fair play, half of 
the jury were to be Indians. Yet another was that 
prisons should be for the reform of criminals instead 
of mere places of punishment. 

128. Philadelphia. 

In 1682, Penn went to his grant and chose a site for 
a town, with the Delaware on the front and the Schuyl- 



THE ENGLISH IN PENNSYLVANIA 253 

kill at the rear. The streets ran from river to river, 
crossed at right angles by other streets so that there 
were many squares. He named the town Philadelphia, 
a word which means City of Brotherly Love. Of course, 
the houses were rudely built at first, in that new country, 
the better ones being of hewn logs. Many did not have 
houses during the first winter, but lived in caves dug 
in the high bank along the river. 

No city ever grew so rapidly as Philadelphia. About 
thirty vessels came there the first year with settlers. It 
soon became the greatest city in English America, and was 
such for a hundred years. There are but two cities on 
the continent now that are larger than Philadelphia. 

129. Germans come to Pennsylvania. 

In Penn's time, there were many people in Germany 
who, while not Quakers, were still very much like them 
in their beliefs. They knew Penn, for he had preached 
among them, and when they heard of his colony, they 
flocked to it. Thousands and thousands of Germans 
came. There was a time in later years when fully 
a third of the people of Pennsylvania were German. 

One great company of Germans, who were skilled in 
making linen, came and settled a little way out of Phila- 
delphia. They called their place Germantown. From 
that day, Germantown has been a center for cloth making. 
Long ago Philadelphia spread out and surrounded it, 
so that it is now a part of that great city. 



254 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Penn went back to England to work for his colony 
there, and was there when King Charles II died and James 
II became king. Through the new king's friendship, 
Penn got the release of hundreds of Quakers from prison. 

130. Trouble with the New King. 

After King James I was driven from the throne and Wil- 
liam III became king, Penn was charged with being friendly 
to James, and was removed as governor of Pennsylvania, 
but after two years, control was given back to him. 

Penn died in 1718, and his sons were then owners of 
the colony. They were not as just in their dealings 
with the people as their father had been, and there were 
many disputes. At length, Pennsylvania became one 
of the United States, and as a state it bought the inter- 
ests of the Penns. 

131. The English in Delaware. 

The first lasting settlements, in what we know as Dela- 
ware, were made by the Swedes in 1638. The Dutch 
made a settlement seven years before that, but the In- 
dians drove them away. The present city of Wilmington 
is the outgrowth of the Swedish settlement made there, 
which the people named, for their queen, Christina. They 
called the country about Christina, New Sweden, and 
they lived along the Delaware for many miles. 

The settlement was within the bounds of New Nether- 
land, and, in less than twenty years from its founding, 



THE ENGLISH IN DELAWARE 255 

it was captured by the Dutch who sent a fleet from New 
Amsterdam for that purpose. Thus the colony was 
under the Dutch from 1655 to 1664, when it was taken 
from the Dutch by the English, by order of King Charles 
II, together with New Netherland. Thenceforth it was 
under English control. 

As soon as it became English, there was strife be- 
tween Maryland and Pennsylvania as to which colony 
should have it. Penn wanted it because it would give 
to Pennsylvania a sea front, which was badly needed, 
while Maryland wanted it because it would square out 
the colony. By looking at the map, one can see that 
there were good reasons for each colony to want it. 
Penn got it at last, mainly because he was a friend of 
the king and because he could pay for it, and thus it 
became really a part of Pennsylvania. Up to that time 
it had been known as the Three Counties on the Dela- 
ware. Penn called it the Territories of Pennsylvania. 

After some years, the people of Delaware had some- 
thing to say for themselves in the matter. The result 
was that Delaware had a governor of its own for a while. 
But in 1693, the little colony was again joined to Penn- 
sylvania, and it remained so for ten years. Another 
change then made Delaware in part a colony by itself, 
though under the governor of Pennsylvania. It so 
remained until the English lost control of them, when 
both Pennsylvania and Delaware became states of our 
nation. When the "Territories" became a state, they 



256 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

gave to themselves the name of the river on which they 
fronted, and the state was called Delaware. 

132. The English in the Carolinas. 

South of Virginia the surface of the land was much 
as it was in Virginia. There was the same long, low 
slope of soil, which continued from the rise of the moun- 
tains to the sea and far under it. Along the coast were 
many low islands formed by the action of the ocean 
which carved them out from the sandy soil that had 
once been a part of the mainland. Roanoke Island, 
where Raleigh's colony failed, was one of these. 

133. Duke of Albemarle. 

In 1663, Charles II, who had been so free in giving 
great away tracts in America, and who tried to give a 
large part of Virginia to Culpeper and Arlington, gave 
this area south of Virginia to some of his friends. 
One of them was the Duke of Albemarle. The king 
knew that Spain claimed the peninsula of Florida and 
some of the mainland north of it. But Spain was weak 
now, and Charles cared little about what the Spanish 
might say or do. So he told his friends that they 
might run their boundary lines well south, even into 
Florida. And they did. He said they might go west 
clear to the Pacific Ocean, if they wished. He gave 
them much such an ownership and control of the coun- 
try as his father years before had given to Calvert over 



THE ENGLISH IN CAROLINA 



257 



Maryland, and as he had given to Penn over Pennsylvania. 
They had almost kingly power of government. 

The name given to the Albermarle grant was Carolina. 




Painting by Sir Peter Lely, N. P. G., London. 

General George Monk, Duke of Albemarle 

This name was given by a Frenchman who tried, a 
century before, to settle there and who named it after 
his king, Charles IX, of France. Carolus is Latin for 



258 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Charles. The English adopted the name all the more 
readily because their own king also was named Charles. 

There were some settlers in Carolina already when 
the king gave it to the Duke of Albemarle and his friends, 
and they were formed at once into a colony which was 
called Albemarle. Soon after that some more settlers 
came and settled in the bay that is the outlet of Cape 
Fear River. This settlement was called Clarendon, 
after the Earl of Clarendon. 

134. The Model Government. 

The owners of Carolina tried a new plan of govern- 
ment which they called the Grand Model. A set of 
laws was made which put all power in the hands of a few 
nobles and left the common people little better than 
slaves. They could not vote, and they could not own 
land. The people living on a great plantation were to 
be, as it were, a part of the plantation like cattle, and 
they could not go away from it. If the plantation was 
sold, they were sold with it, and had to obey the new 
owner as their master. The whole plan was a foolish 
one, and the people overthrew it after a while. 

135. Charleston. 

In a few years, some people came from England and 
settled on a tongue of land between the Ashley and 
the Cooper rivers. This settlement was named after 
the king — Charles town. Years afterward, the settle- 



THE ENGLISH IN CAROLINA 259 

ment was moved a few miles to a better place, and the 
name became Charlestown. In our time the place is 
known as the city of Charleston. 

136. The Pine Forest. 

Beginning in Virginia there is a strip of yellow pine 
forest many miles wide which runs parallel to the coast 
many hundreds of miles, through the Carolinas and across 
Georgia. In the days of the settlement of those states, 
it was the most valuable pine forest in the world. It 
is there still, though it has been worked even to this 
day for lumber, tar, pitch, and turpentine. The early 
settlers found this pine forest a means of earning their 
living, and many came to the Carolinas, and later to 
Georgia, because of it. 

In 1707, the Protestants were ill treated in France, 
and thousands had to leave. Many of these came to 
America, some to New England, and some to other 
colonies, but the greater part of them came to Carolina. 
These people were of high character, like the Cavaliers 
that came long before to Virginia. The Huguenot 
blood has done wonders in building up the character of 
the Carolina people in all the years since they came. 

The Germans came, too, and they made a settlement 
called New Bern. In later years people from the north 
part of Ireland came, and also many from Scotland, 
All of these were of the best of stock for the settling of 
a new country. 



260 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

Besides the making of pine-tree products, the grow- 
ing of tobacco was an important business, and after 
a while the raising of rice became the great business of 
the country, even as that of tobacco was of Virginia. 

137. Rice, Indigo, and Cotton. 

Charleston has always been the leading port of the 
Carolinas. One day a ship came into that port from 
Africa, and the captain gave a friend a small lot of rice, 
which he had brought across the sea, to be planted, 
just to see how it would grow. It was planted and it 
grew. It seemed that the soil and climate were just 
right for rice, and from that time until now, Carolina 
rice has been counted as the best in the world. Its 
growth has spread along the seacoast slope clear to 
Texas, where great quantities are grown every year. 

Nearly fifty years after rice came in, it was found that 
indigo grew well in the Carolinas, and that became a great 
and paying crop. Indigo was once one of the most 
valuable of dyes. But chemists have found how to 
make the dye without the plant, so it is no longer grown. 

Later still it was found that the low sandy islands 
along the coast and many of the low flats of the main- 
land near the sea could produce the best cotton in the 
world. The famous sea-island cotton of the Carolinas 
is known everywhere. 

As the people got into rice growing and indigo grow- 
ing, and later still, into cotton growing, there was need 



THE ENGLISH IN GEORGIA 261 

for workers in the fields that could stand the very hot 
weather of the Carolina summers. White men could 
not do it, so negroes were brought in from Africa and 
sold as slaves. The slave trade was a money-making 
business for many years, and ships belonging to the 
ports of the colonies all along the coast from Salem to 
Charleston brought cargo after cargo of them. At 
length, there were more negro slaves along the lowlands 
of the Carolinas than there were white people. 

In 1711, while Queen Anne's War was raging in the 
North, the Tuscaroras and other Indians in the Caro- 
linas, and what later became Georgia, tried to kill all 
the whites, much as the Indians of Virginia had tried 
to do many years before. But they failed, as those 
Indians did, and were badly punished. They never 
tried it again. The Tuscaroras were a branch of the 
Iroquois, and after their defeat they went to New York 
and became the sixth nation of the Iroquois. From 
that time the Iroquois were known as the Six Nations 
instead of the Five Nations as before. 

In 1729, King George II bought out the owners of the 
colony and made two provinces of it, North Carolina 
and South Carolina. They remained so until they be- 
came states of our Union about fifty years later. 

138. The English in Georgia. 

The last colony planted by the English, where settle- 
ment began in 1732, was south of the Carolinas. 



262 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

There had been for many years trouble between the 
Carolinas and the Spanish of Florida over claims to the 
country that lay between, and not a little of Indian war 
had come from the schemes of the Spanish in the South. 
They used the Indians as the French did in the North. 

139. Need of a New Colony. 

The king of England, George II, felt the need of a 
new colony south of South Carolina to keep the Span- 
iards from coming north, as the Massachusetts and 
New York colonies had kept back the French from 
coming south. 

Times were hard in England, and her jails were full 
of men who were shut up because they could not pay 
their debts. In those days the law was very cruel to 
such unlucky people. To be thrown into jail for debt 
was often to be put in prison for life. 

There was a man in England whose heart went out to 
the poor debtors. He wanted to do something to help 
them. He was a member of Parliament, and the king 
was his friend. His name was Oglethorpe. 

140. Oglethorpe. 

He said to the king that if laws could be passed so 
as to allow it, he would form a colony south of South 
Carolina to bar the Spanish. He would bring there 
such poor debtors as were set free from English jails. 
The king and Parliament favored this plan, and the 



THE ENGLISH IN GEORGIA 



263 



colony was founded. The king gave the land, and Par- 
liament gave a large sum of money. It was named 
after the king, Georgia. 




Oglethorpe 



141. Savannah. 

In 1733, a settlement was made at Savannah, right 
in the heart of the country claimed by the Spaniards. 



264 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

None but good people were allowed to come. Before 
this, in the colonies, any man could come, no matter 
how worthless he might be. Forts were built, and soon 
the king sent some Scotch Highlander soldiers to serve 
in them. Then Augusta was settled, and people began 
to come to other points. 

Oglethorpe was strongly set against drunkenness and 
slavery and he would have no liquors or slaves in Georgia. 
He said liquor made fools of men, and slavery robbed 
white men of a chance to work and made them idle. 
He knew how idleness led to crime, misery, and death 
in Virginia a century before. The settlement of Georgia, 
like that of Maryland and Pennsylvania, was for the good 
of the oppressed and persecuted. 

As Roger Williams and Calvert and Penn had done, 
Oglethorpe bought the land from the Indians and made 
friends with them. The good intent of Oglethorpe in 
founding his colony gained for it the friendship of many 
of the best people of England. 

142. Making of Silk. 

It was noticed that mulberry trees grew in Georgia, 
and the settlers brought silkworms to feed on the leaves, 
and make silk. Large lots of it were sent to England, 
and the queen wore a dress made of Georgia silk. But 
the people found that they could make money faster 
in other lines of work, and silk making was, after many 
years, given up. 



THE ENGLISH IN GEORGIA 265 

143. Trouble with the Spaniards. 

The Spanish of Florida were not willing to give up the 
land which the English king had turned over to Ogle- 
thorpe and there was more or less fighting between the 
Georgia people and the Spanish for years, but at length 
Florida was given to England by Spain, at the end of the 
French and Indian War, and after that there was no 
more trouble of that kind. 

144. Slavery. 

It was found, after years of trial, that the people could 
raise larger crops with the work of slaves than they could 
without it, and so slavery came in, and a new market 
was thus opened for negroes from Africa. 

In 1752, Georgia became a province of England, and 
so remained until it became one of the United States. 

SUMMARY 

1. George Calvert (first Lord Baltimore) was granted a tract 

of land in Newfoundland in 1623 by James I. 

2. Calvert later (1629) asked Charles I for a grant of land 

near Jamestown. This was made (1632), and his son 
Cecil Calvert (second Lord Baltimore) sent colonists 
to Chesapeake Bay in 1634. They founded the colony 
of Maryland. 

3. William Claiborne interfered with the Maryland colonists 

by claiming to own Kent Island, which was within 
the limits of the colony. 

4. The colony of Pennsylvania was started by settlers who 



266 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

were sent over by William Penn. The colonists started 
the building of Philadelphia in 1682. 

5. The Swedes settled Delaware in 1638. 

6. The land south of Virginia was granted to the Duke of 

Albemarle and others by King Charles II in 1663. This 
tract was called Carolina. 

7. North and South Carolina were made two separate prov- 

inces in 1729. 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 

1. To whom was a grant of land in Newfoundland made, in 

1623? By whom? 

2. When did English colonists land in Chesapeake Bay to 

found what is now Maryland? To whom was this 
grant made? By whom? 

3. Give an account of Claiborne's Rebellion. 

4. When was the colony of Pennsylvania started ? By whom ? 

When did the colonists begin to build the city of Phila- 
delphia? In what sect was William Penn interested? 

5. By whom was Delaware first permanently settled? When? 

Who conquered the Swedes? How long did the Dutch 
hold Delaware? Who gained control after the Dutch? 

6. When was the grant of Carolina made? By whom? 

7. When were North and South Carolina formed as two sepa- 

rate provinces? 



CHAPTER X 

ENGLISH AMERICA AND HOW IT WAS HELD 

145. Early English Settlers kept to the Coast. 

For many years England cared but little about the 
country far back from the coast. There was good land 
there, to be sure, and plenty of forests, and no doubt 
mines could be found in the mountains. It was well 
known where the Alleghany Mountains ran. But there 
were no roads by which to get goods out, so of what 
use was it to go far back from the sea into the moun- 
tains, or beyond them, to raise crops or dig iron or make 
lumber ? 

In the far North, where the chain of English settle- 
ments began, the rocks of the Alleghany Mountains 
come to the sea. Along the coast of Maine, and in places 
on the coast of Massachusetts, vessels in calm weather 
can lie right alongside the rocks, and take on cargo. 
But south of Cape Cod ; a strip of low land runs along 
the coast, made up of earth matter washed down from 
the mountains, by the rains of millions of years. This 
strip forming a plain, which grows wider as it runs south, 
slopes very gently from the foothills of the mountains 
to the sea. It is less than a mile wide at Rhode Island, 

267 



268 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

and is over a hundred miles wide at the Carolinas and 
beyond, where the Spanish were. The rivers that rise 
in the mountains, run down the steep slope of the rocks, 
until they come to the long edge of the rock formation 
which runs south from Maine, into the country in the 
back part of the Carolinas. Over this rock edge, the 
rivers flow in falls, above which vessels cannot go. To- 
ward the sea from these falls, the rivers as they cross 
the plain, have been wearing channels in the soft earth 
for thousands of years. Most of them have scoured 
their channels out so wide, that they have become bays 
which reach back into the land, as the English found 
them, and as we may see by looking at a map of the 
Atlantic coast. The low plain, crossed by these rivers, 
is the farming land which the early English tilled. They 
first took up that on the river banks, so that ships could 
come to their very plantations, and they followed up the 
rivers as far as the falls of each, and there they stopped, 
because vessels could not go beyond the falls. For 
many years there were few or no English farther back 
from the sea, along the coast plain, than the falls of the 
rivers. 

Thus it was that, in 1689, the English had on the 
Atlantic slope of the Alleghany Mountains, more than 
enough land for their needs and they were making use 
of only the low-plain part of that. They would have 
built factories at the falls, but the home laws that 
forbade the making of goods in America prevented 



KING WILLIAM'S WAR 



269 




Painting by J. H. Brandon. 

William III of Orange 



such enterprise. Ports from 
which to send out vessels, 
and land to till for crops to 
load the vessels with, were 
all of America that the Eng- 
lish settlers could yet use. 
If a colonist traveled west, 
he first toiled over the moun- 
tains and then went down 
the farther slope, into a beau- 
tiful country. The French 
claimed that country. The 
English saw, however, that in ages to come that land 
beyond the mountains might support a great English 

people, and they meant to 

keep it. 

146. King William's War. 

In 1688, the English got 
tired of the rule of King 
James II, and they drove him 
out of the country. He was 
too much like the Charleses 
that had reigned before 
him. William, who, as the 
Prince of Orange, already 

After tin- painting l>v Vundervaart. 1 i tt 11 1 „,„J„ 

ruled Holland, was made 

Mary II, Queen of England and 

Consort of William III king of England because he 




270 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

was the husband of Mary, daughter of King James, 
and was himself of royal descent. Holland was at war 
with France at the time, and when Holland's ruler thus 
became England's king also, the king of France made 
war on England. Thus it was that in the war France 
was on one side and England and Holland on the other. 
France tried to put James back on the English throne. 
The fighting that was done in America was known as 
King William's War. 

147. Queen Anne's War. 

The peace in Europe between England and France was 
soon broken. In 1702, after the death of King William, 
Queen Anne declared war against France and Spain, and 
during the next year fighting began in America. The 
king of France had foreseen the contest. Indeed, he had 
been plotting for it ever since the peace of King William's 
War. The French of Canada now had a treaty with their 
old-time foes, the Iroquois, so that when the war broke 
out in America those Indians did not take sides. 

Queen Anne's War lasted eleven years, and the Cana- 
dian French, as in the other war, employed the Algon- 
quin Indians to murder English settlers. As was their 
custom, the French paid the Indians cash bounties for 
the scalps of such men, women, and children as they 
could kill in the English settlements. Deerfield and 
Haverhill in Massachusetts, and some towns in Maine, 
suffered horribly under Indian attacks. 



KING GEORGE'S WAR 271 

While the French set the Indians on in the North, 
the Spanish from Florida set on those of the South, and 
there was Indian fighting in South Carolina, in which 
the Indians were terribly defeated. 

As they did before in King William's War, the New 
England troops now attacked and captured Acadia, 
since called Nova Scotia, and this time when peace came, 
the English kept it. Thus Nova Scotia came to the 
English, who hold it to this day. 

Queen Anne's War ended in 1713, and for more than 
thirty years there was peace between the English and 
the French in America. During this time, the French 
were getting ready for another war, for they knew one 
must sooner or later come. They built a fortress on 
Cape Breton Island and called it after their king, Louis- 
burg. It was thought to be one of the strongest forts 
in the world. They also built a chain of forts from 
the great lakes down through the valleys of the Ohio 
and the Mississippi. 

148. King George's War. 

After Queen Anne's death came a line of kings of 
England, who were German. George I was followed 
by George II. So thoroughly German were they that 
neither of them could speak good English. Under the 
latter, in 1744, war with the French broke out again. 
Again the French set the Indians on the English set- 
tlers, many of whom they murdered. Roused to fury 



272 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



by these murders by Indians led by French officers, 
the New Englanders again went after the French, and 

this time they took 
Louisburg, which 
the French thought 
would withstand the 
world. At the close 
of the war, England 
gave it back to 
France by the treaty 
of 1748. The siege 
of Louisburg taught 
the English colo- 
nists to fight, and to 
know that they 
could fight ; — things 
which afterward be- 
came important. 
The New England 
people had twice 
taken from the Canadians important forts, giving freely 
of their money and their blood to do so, only to see 
them given back to the French when peace came, and 
they did not like it. They were getting tired of fighting 
for England and getting no thanks. They saw that Eng- 
land seemed quite willing to let them be murdered by In- 
dians whenever a war with France came on. They began 
to grow slack in their regard for the mother country. 




Painting by Sir G. Kneller. 

George I 




27a 



274 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



149. English America at the Close of King George's War. 

By this time the settlers had worked back from the 
Atlantic coast well up to the head waters of the rivers. 

They had not gone far 
away from the streams, 
for the boat was the 
great means of travel and 
for movement of goods. 
There were few roads as 
yet. Some men of a rov- 
ing turn of mind had 
crossed the mountains, 
but not many. There 
were a few settlers in 
what is now Kentucky 
and Tennessee. 

There were about a 
million and a quarter of 
people in the settlements, four fifths of whom came from 
England, Ireland, and Scotland. One fifth of the people 
were negro slaves, most of whom lived south of Penn- 
sylvania. While the colonies were British, only three 
fourths of the white people in them were British people. 
The rest were Germans, Frenchmen, Swedes, and others. 
There was not much travel between the colonies, 
hence the people of each knew but little about the others. 
The colonies were somewhat jealous of each other, 
perhaps because of this lack of acquaintance. 




Alter the engraving by J. Houbraaken. 

George II 



MANNER OF LIVING 275 

Industries. 

The New England forests were full of excellent ship 
timber, and the coast had many fine harbors, so the 
people there went largely into shipbuilding. Their 
vessels were useful for their West Indies and other 
trade. They shipped a great deal of lumber. White 
pine, of the best grade, was common then from Rhode 
Island to Maine. The best white pine trees were 
kept by the English government for masts for the 
royal navy. 

A day's work was from sunrise to sunset, and often 
in winter more than that. Wages were very low, not 
more than one fourth as high as they now are for shorter 
days of work. 

There were tanneries in New England for making 
leather, and distilleries for making rum, as there are to 
this day. The vessels would bring molasses from the 
West Indies and make it into rum, send the rum to 
Africa and trade it for negroes, and sell the negroes to 
the other colonies and in the West Indies, for slaves. 
The slave trade was a money-making business in those 
days. Everybody North and South, except the Quakers, 
thought slavery was right and proper. 

The people of the ports of New England sent many 
ships into seas near and far, for whales. They caught 
them in Long Island Sound and in Hudson Bay. 
Paying but little attention to the English Navigation 
Laws, they sent trading ships to all parts of the world. 



276 SHOUT AMERICAN HISTORY 

In some years, as many as two hundred vessels were 
built in New England. Some were built in all the 
colonies. 

Slaves. 

The keeping of slaves never paid as well in the North- 
ern colonies as it did in the South, so there never was as 
much of it. About one tenth of the people of New York 
and less than that in New England were negro slaves. 
In the South there were nearly as many slaves as white 
people, and in South Carolina, more. 

Clothing. 

In the early days of the colonies, most of the comforts 
of life were unknown. Such cloth as was used was 
woven in the homes of the people on hand looms. It 
was made from threads of flax or wool, for cotton was 
hardly known. The flax was grown upon the farm, 
and the wool was cut from the backs of sheep that fed 
in the home pastures. Both the flax and the wool were 
carded and spun into threads by hand. There were no 
factories for the making of cloth. The women of the 
household were kept very busy providing the garments 
of the family. Such a thing as knitting or sewing by 
machine was never heard of. All the machinery that 
was then used in the making of stockings, was four 
knitting . needles. The rich people had some cloth and 
some trimmings and finery brought to them from Eng- 
land. The workingmen made much use of leather 



MANNER OF LIVING 277 

for breeches, and for aprons to protect their clothes 
when laboring. 

Heating and Cooking. 

Stoves were unknown in the early colony days. Rooms 
were kept warm by means of fireplaces, and in the fire- 
places the cooking was done. There was a swinging 
bar in the fireplace, called the crane, from which kettles 
hung, so that the water in them might boil from the 
fire below on the hearth. Then there were kettles and 
spiders, or skillets with long legs : so that they could 
be placed over a bed of live coals. In them meat was 
fried. Some were so deep that meat could be roasted, 
or bread baked in them. Others had covers which 
themselves were dishes, into which live coals could be 
put so as to throw the heat downward. Thus there 
could be fire both above and below what was cooking. 

Most of the bread was baked in the brick oven. This 
was a sort of very deep fireplace built with thick sides 
and an arch of brick. A fierce wood fire was kept up, 
in the brick oven, until the thick walls had taken up 
much heat. Then the coals and ashes were brushed 
out, the dough put in, in proper dishes, and the door 
closed. The heat from the brick walls was ample to 
bake the dough into bread. 

There were no matches. When the folks of the house 
went to bed, they used to dig a hole in the ashes on the 
hearth, and in it put some live coals, covering them 



278 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

carefully. In the morning, these could be raked out 
still smoldering. Then kindlings were laid over them, 
and by blowing the coals with the bellows a flame could 
soon be started. 

If by chance the fire went out, one of the boys could 
be sent to a neighbor's " to borrow fire," which he would 
bring home, as live coals, in a dish, covered with ashes. 
If fire could not be borrowed, a new blaze was started 
by means of the flint and steel. Very dry scrapings of old 
wood, or of old bark, or even of linen, called tinder, would 
be made ready, and then a piece of flint would be struck 
on a piece of steel, until a spark fell on the tinder and 
started it to smoldering. From this a fire could be 
started. 

For dishes, wood was much used, though there were, 
among those who could afford such things, many plates 
and other dishes that were made of pewter. 

Houses. 

The houses were mostly made of logs hewn square 
and laid one above the other, with the spaces between 
them filled with clay. Very few bricks were used, and 
those were brought from across the sea. The roofs were 
of long split shingles. Sometimes, long grass or straw 
so laid that the rain would follow down the slope with- 
out wetting through, was used for roofing. Such roofs 
were called thatched roofs. Most houses had but two 
rooms; the kitchen, which was used as a sitting room, 



MANNER OF LIVING 279 

and the parlor, which was seldom used except for com- 
pany or for parties, weddings, and such things. Few 
houses had board floors. The bare earth trodden hard 
served as as floor. 

A house with glass windows was not often seen. 
Glass was very costly then. Paper well greased was used 
instead. It would let the light in fairly well, much as 
ground glass docs in our day. For light in the evening, 
candles were used and in 1750, lamps, filled with whale oil. 

Religion. 

People thought much more of their church duties 
than they do now. Since England was a Protestant 
country, most of the people who came from there to 
America were Protestants. These were mainly of two 
kinds: those belonging to the Church of England, or 
to the Episcopal church; and Puritans, or those of the 
Congregational church. In most of the colonies, the 
English government supported and enforced the Episcopal 
church service. Catholics, Quakers, and people of other 
beliefs, were badly treated in all the colonies, except 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and perhaps Rhode Island. 

Education. 

As a rule, the people of the colonies were in favor of 
schools and the spread of knowledge by means of print- 
ing, and this was very true of those in New England. 
In those colonies, free public schools were kept up, and 



280 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

it was beginning to be thought disgraceful for children to 
grow up not knowing how to read, write and cipher. 
There were a few public schools in New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania, but none in Virginia and the other Southern 
colonies. Free public schools seemed to be more common 
in the Puritan colonies than in the others. In the colo- 
nies where the service of the Church of England was the 
rule, the higher classes had private teachers for their chil- 
dren, while the lower classes grew up in ignorance. Har- 
vard College, in Massachusetts, was founded in 1636; 
William and Mary College, in Virginia, in 1693 ; Yale Col- 
lege, in Connecticut, in 1701 ; Princeton College, in New 
Jersey, in 1746; King's College, later Columbia, in New 
York, in 1754; the University of Pennsylvania, in 1751. 

150. The French prepare for War. 

After King George's War, peace came in 1748, yet the 
French had their plans and knew that peace would not 
last. They were striving with England for the mastery 
of the world. They were trying to gain control in Asia 
and Africa, very much as they were in America. Orders 
were given for the building of more than a hundred and 
fifty war vessels. One great effort was to be made to 
crush England, and the French were laboring hard to 
get ready. They went on building forts to hold the 
Ohio and Mississippi valleys. They worked all the 
harder because they saw that now English fur traders 
were crossing the mountains and getting into the Ohio 



STRUGGLE FOR OHIO VALLEY 281 

River country. By 1730, to be ready for the war when- 
ever it might come, the French had more than sixty of 
these forts and had made treaties with the Indians. 

The French country was very thinly peopled; the 
English country was small, but it was ten times as thickly 
settled as that of the French. The French were not 
growing up with the country as the English were. 

151. The English begin to take the Ohio Valley. 

It was now well toward a hundred and fifty years since 
the English came, and they had begun to value the land 
which lay beyond the mountains. Their trappers and 
hunters had come back from their trips, again and again, 
to tell of the wonderful country they had seen. Now 
the colonists began to remember, that the grants from 
England to the colonies, in times past, were for land clear 
across the continent, and they felt, as the English at 
home did, that it was now time to begin to use it. 

In 1748, while King George's War was coming to 
an end, a company called the Ohio Land Company was 
formed in Virginia, to take up land beyond the mountains 
in the valley of the Ohio, and to trade with the Indians 
in that country. King George II gave it a grant of six 
hundred thousand acres. Among the members of this 
company were two brothers, Lawrence and John Wash- 
ington, who were descendants of the Cavaliers. Well 
might the French expect war and prepare for it, when 
the English king was giving away the best land in the 



282 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



country they called their own, and when English traders 
were trying to get the fur trade away from them. 

Two years later, the 
Ohio Company sent some 
men across the moun- 
tains, to survey the land 
and set up boundary 
marks. They went as far 
as that point on the Ohio 
River, where Louisville 
now stands. The French 
heard of this move and 
took steps to put a stop 
to it. They sent a party 
which made prisoners of 
the surveyors. They 
broke up a trading post 
What they did came very 




From the original painting owned in Scotland. 

Governor Robert Dinwiddie 
of Virginia 



that the English had made 
near to being war. 

To Dinwiddie, the governor of Virginia, the land 
company complained of what the French had done. 
He decided to send an officer out where the land lay, to 
attend to the matter. In 1753, he sent a young brother 
of the two Washingtons, named George, who was an 
officer of the militia. There was need of haste, so, though 
it was winter, young Washington set out at once. His 
way lay over mountains, through thick forests and 
swamps, and across rivers, which at that season were 



STRUGGLE FOR OHIO VALLEY 



283 



raging torrents full of broken ice. He had hundreds 
of miles to go. His errand was to order the French 
away, to learn just what they were doing, and to make 
friends with the Indians as far as he could. 




Painting by Chas. W. IValc. 

George Washington at the Age of Thirty 
In the Uniform of Virginia Colonel 

The best way, in those days, to get to the Ohio River 
country from the east was to follow the Ohio down- 
stream from where it begins. The best way to get 
to the Ohio River was to strike the Allegheny River, 
which flows south, or the Monongahela, which flows 



284 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

north, and follow the current to the place where the 
two rivers come together to form the Ohio. Both the 
English and the French knew, that the meeting point of 
these two rivers was the most important place, in that 
country. Each knew that the one who held it, could keep 
the other out of the Ohio Valley beyond. Washington, 
when he got back from his trip, told Governor Dinwiddie 
and the land company, that they ought to build a fort 
there as soon as possible ; for if they did not, the French 
would have one there ahead of them. 

Very soon after that, a party was sent from Virginia 
to build the fort. But before they had half finished it, 
the French came down the Allegheny River in boats 
and drove them away, and built a fort which they named 
Fort Duquesne. The French had got the start of the 
English, but it meant war. 

152. The French and Indian War. 

Fearing just such a move by the French, Virginia 
had sent a regiment to hold the fort that was being built 
by the company's men. Washington, though not its 
commander, was with the regiment. Runners that 
had started east with the news of what the French had 
done, met the Virginia force not far away, and told what 
had happened. Then Washington, with a number of 
men, pushed ahead. He had not gone far, when he came 
to a party of French soldiers who had heard of the Vir- 
ginians, and who, like his own party, were out to see what 



FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 285 

was happening. The French acted as though they 
meant to fight, and without waiting further, Washington 
fired on them and killed some of them. The French 
leader was among those who fell. Thus, May 28, 1754, 
began the war between the English and the French, 
which was to settle which should give way to the other, 
in America. That part of the war that was fought in 
America, is known in history as the French and Indian 
War, because it was fought by the French and the Indians 
against the English. 

The French were in strong force at Fort Duquesne, 
and when they heard of the fight and the death of their 
officer, they sent several hundred men to attack the 
Virginians who had turned back. Washington, who 
was now in command, fell back and built a stockade, 
intending to wait there for the wagons to come up 
that were on their way with supplies. The wagons did not 
come, and the soldiers suffered so much from hunger, 
that he called his camp, Fort Necessity. The French 
and Indians were more than double his force, and when 
they surrounded his stockade, he surrendered. But 
before doing so, he made the French agree that he and 
his men might return to Virginia with their arms. 

In wars before this, the fighting in America between 
the French and English, had taken place because those 
nations were at war with each other in Europe. But 
this time the war began with the colonies. The Cana- 
dian-French and the New York and New England 



286 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

colonies would no doubt have had much more fighting 
than they did before this, had it not been for the Iroquois 
Indians. They held the country between the French 
and the English, and kept them apart. Now, the fight 
was on between the French and the Virginia colony, 
in a field where the Indians were of a different kind. 
Up to this time, the French had begun the wars by in- 
vading the country of the English; now, the English 
were advancing on them. They had fired on them, 
on what the French called their own ground, at a time 
when the mother nations of each, were at peace. 
Canada now prepared to fight the English colonies, and 
the colonies made ready to fight Canada. France 
moved to back up the Canadians, and England to stand 
by the people of her colonies. It looked as though 
England and France were about to fight each other in 
Europe as well as in America. 

153. Franklin tries to form a Union. 

There was in Philadelphia, at that time, a man of 
New England birth, who was long-headed and wise far 
beyond all others of the colonists. This was shown 
later when he proved to be one of the greatest statesmen 
that America ever knew. His name was Benjamin 
Franklin. He had read of the good effects of the old 
New England Confederation, under which the colonies 
had helped each other so much, and now he came for- 
ward and proposed that all the colonies get together 



FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 



287 



and form a Union, under which to fight the French. 
The Union was to be headed by a President, who was to 
have considerable power. 




After the painting by Baron Jos. Sifrede Duplessis, Fine Arts Museum, Boston. 

Benjamin Franklin 

But the colonies were too jealous of each other to 
make such a union. If they had favored it, it could 
not have been carried out, because England would not 



288 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

consent. Such a union would have given the colonies 
so much strength, that they might have been hard to 
manage, by the home government. So Franklin's wise 
plan was given up. 

In 1755, England sent Braddock, one of her best 
generals, to America with two regiments of her best 
soldiers. These were troops that had done great fight- 
ing in the wars of Europe. When England sent Brad- 
dock, France, who was watching England, sent a fleet to 
America with a force of troops under General Dieskau, 
a very able soldier. It chanced that very early in the 
war that came, Braddock was killed and Dieskau got 
wounds that caused his death. 

Knowing of the sailing of the French fleet, England 
sent a fleet of her own, under Admiral Boscawen, to 
fight it. He met the French fleet off Newfoundland 
and gave it battle. He took three ships, and would, 
no doubt, have destroyed all the French vessels, had not 
a fog come up, under which they got away. 

Braddock thought he knew all about fighting, and so 
he did, about the kind that was done in Europe. But 
the French and the Americans had learned from the 
Indians, ways of fighting that the soldiers of Europe did 
not understand. 

Braddock was to command the English and colonial 
forces in America, against the French and the Indians 
who were to help the French. Braddock said he would 
make short work of any French and Indian skulkers 




289 



290 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

that might come before his trained regulars. He said 
he would show the backwoodsmen such fighting as they 
had not seen. 

His first move was to march to the west, to take Fort 
Duquesne. So he set out with his regulars and a good 
many colonist soldiers. Young Washington was one of 
his aides. Braddock's troops started from Alexandria, 
which is now a little town near where the city of Wash- 
ington has since grown. At about the time when 
Braddock set out for the Ohio River, Dieskau was 
coming south from Canada with an army to Lake 
George. 

154. Braddock's Defeat. 

Major George Washington urged Braddock to push 
on, with as great speed as possible, so that they might 
get to Fort Duquesne before the French could get ready 
to fight. "Go in single file in Indian fashion," said 
Washington. " Push along, in any way you can. Get 
over the ground. Make haste. Never mind the flags, 
and the banners, and the drums and trumpets, and the 
parades and all that showy nonsense. Get down to 
work and get there. Let each man make his way for 
himself, so long as the force does not spread out too much." 

But Braddock would take no advice from those whom 
he and his gaudy officers called Virginia countrymen. 
He made his men march over the mountains and through 
the woods and swamps, as though they were on parade. 



FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 291 

He wasted weeks in making roads and smoothing the 
way for his troops. He and his British officers would 
show these Virginia countrymen some military style. 

So slow was his progress, that he came near giving 
up the advance for want of wagons and horses. But 
Benjamin Franklin came forward and saved the under- 
taking by pledging his own fortune to the Pennsylvania 
farmers, in payment for teams that they supplied. 

Braddock went on, and after many days drew near 
Fort Duquesne. He should have kept scouts ahead to 
see if the enemy was before him, but he did not do this. 
"Look out for an ambush," said Washington. " The 
French and Indians are likely to lie in wait for you, and 
fall on your troops, while they are struggling through 
some bad passage." "Nonsense," said Braddock. "Let 
them try it. We'll show them what Old England's 
soldiers can do ! " 

Sure enough ! when the column got within ten miles of 
the fort, and just as the men were pushing their way 
through a very bad place in the forest, the attack came. 
The Indian war whoop sounded, and bullets began to 
pour in on the poor English soldiers, from the under- 
brush on either side. From behind trees and rocks, 
and out of little gullies, came the deadly rain of lead, 
while the bewildered soldiers could scarcely see a man 
of the enemy. 

" Get behind trees and rocks and fight as they do," 
said Washington. " No," shouted Braddock; " stand 



292 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

like the brave British soldiers that you are. Form line 
and advance and fire by volleys." 

The Virginians did as their foe did. They each took 
a tree, or a log, or a hole in the ground for a cover, and 
peered out for the enemy, with only their heads in sight. 
Every time one of them saw an Indian, or a Frenchman, 
sneaking up to get a shot at the British line, he took 
careful aim at him and fired. The shots of the Virgin- 
ians were not wasted. 

The British soldiers, if they had been allowed to, 
would have fought, each for himself. But their officers 
made them stand up in line, and load and fire, without 
aiming at anything in particular. Not one, in a hundred 
of their shots, hit the enemy. The French and the 
Indians picked them off, one by one, as they might shoot 
cattle in a barnyard, until such as were still alive broke 
ranks and ran away. 

Braddock was as brave as a lion. But it was of no 
use to be brave, if bravery and folly went together. 
He was wounded badly, and died soon after the fight 
was over. Washington had two horses shot under him, 
and four bullets went. through his clothes. One Indian 
chief and several of his men singled out the young hero, 
and fired at him all through the fight. They saw how 
important he was to the English, and took great pains 
to kill him. But not a shot touched him. Many years 
after, an old Indian chief came to Virginia to see Wash- 
ington. He said he wanted to meet, in peace, the white 



ENGLISH AMERICA AND HOW IT WAS HELD 293 

man whom he could not kill, though he fired at him 
fifteen times. 

The few who were left of Braddock's army retreated 
to Philadelphia. The Indians followed, and, for a long 
time, ravaged the villages and farms in the western part 
of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. They came 
within eighty miles of Philadelphia. 

One of the English plans formed in England had failed. 
Another had been made, which was to advance on Canada, 
at the same time that Braddock went to the Ohio. This 
was to be done, by going north through Lake Champlain. 
(See map, page 178.) To do this, the French fort at 
Crown Point on the lake must be taken. There was a 
battle near the head of Lake George in which the Eng- 
lish, under General Johnson, won a victory. The French 
came out from Crown Point, under Dieskau, to meet the 
English, and were driven back. In the fight, Dieskau 
got his death wound. This was a few weeks after Brad- 
dock's defeat. 

^S- Johnson's Victory at Lake 'George. 

General William Johnson was an Irishman, who owned 
a great tract of land in the Mohawk Valley, where he 
had a great fur trade, and was very friendly with the 
Mohawk Indians. He had married the daughter of 
a Mohawk chief. The Mohawks were of the Five Nations, 
or more correctly the Six Nations, for since the Tus- 
caroras had come to New York from the Carolinas, 



294 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



they had made the sixth. The Six Nations were friendly 
to the English in this war, and fought against their 
old foes, the French. A large party of them went with 
Johnson and helped him to defeat the French. 

Johnson did 
not follow the 
enemy, and did 
not take Crown 
Point. Instead, 
he built a fort 
for himself near 
the battlefield, 
which he called 
Fort William 
Henry. Then he 
let his Indians go, 
and gave himself 
and his men a 
long rest. The 
English generals 

Sir William Johnson did no t seem to 

amount to much in the early part of the war. The 
French now built another fort, between Lake George and 
Lake Champlain, which they called Ticonderoga. 

Another plan of the English was to take the French 
stronghold of Louisburg, on Cape Breton Island, and 
hold Acadia and New Brunswick. Much of Acadia 
had been held by England since Queen Anne's War. 




T. Adams, pxt. 




295 



296 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 




During the year, while 
Braddock had failed 
and Johnson had partly 
succeeded, Acadia had 
been overrun by the 
English. Because the 
six thousand French 
people living there 
would not promise to 
be faithful to the Eng- 
lish, they were moved 
away and scattered 
among the English 
colonies. Many went 
to Louisiana and joined 
the French there. To keep them from coming back, 
their homes were destroyed. It seemed hard to move 
them from their homes by force, but the English knew 
that if they were left in this part of the country, they 
would fight for the French. War is full of cruel things, 
at best. The story of the Acadians is told in Longfel- 
low's poem, " Evangeline." 

So far, but little fighting had been done by the Eng- 
lish and French outside of America. But in 1756 war 
broke out in Europe, and even the colonies of England 
and France in far-away India were now at stake in the 
war. Prussia, under that wonderful soldier King Fred- 
erick the Great, had begun to rise as a European nation. 



Drawing by Ad. Menzel 

Frederick II 



ENGLISH AMERICA AND HOW IT WAS HELD 297 

Against Prussia were Austria, Russia, and France. Eng- 
land sided with Prussia and against Prance. Thus 
began what is known in European history as " The Seven 
Years' War." After a time Spain entered the war 
against Prussia and England. Then England captured 
the Spanish city of Havana in Cuba, and the Philippine 
Islands in the Pacific, which had belonged to Spain ever 
since Magellan found them. 

The king was growing rich, and so were his officers. 
Crafty politicians got themselves made generals, and 
they were no match for the trained generals of the 
French. In both England and America the English 
common people were discouraged. England was likely 
to lose America and be crushed in Europe, by the four 
nations that were fighting her and Prussia. 

William Pitt, an able man and an honest one, now 
became the king's minister in England. He was one 
of the greatest statesmen England ever had. He put 
good men in command, and gave the colony troops an 
equal footing with the English regulars, and at the same 
time he pushed the war in Europe. 

The French now made Montcalm, one of their best 
generals, their commander in chief in America. He at 
once began to win victories from the unfit commanders 
of the English forces. One of these was his capture of 
Fort William Henry, which was built by Johnson. The 
Indians that he had with him murdered most of the 
English, after they had surrendered. This was in 1757. 



298 



SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 



156. Defeat at Ticonderoga. 

In 1758, General George Howe, sent to America by 
Pitt, went with an army to take the French fort, Ticon- 
deroga, near Lake George. In a slight skirmish he was 

killed. ThenAb- 
ercrombie, who 
was not much of 
a soldier, but who 
was next in com- 
mand, went for- 
ward, and, in a 
very unskillful 
attack on the fort, 
was defeated with 
terrible loss. The 
Indians said that 
one of their old 
women would 
have done better 
as a general. 

A few days after 
Abercrombie's 
defeat, Wolfe, with the help of Amherst, took the great 
French fortress of Louisburg, the same that had been 
taken by New England troops in King George's War and 
then given back to the French. A month later, Fort 
Frontenac, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, was taken 
from the French. 



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Is • i*S ■ 


S^ja^^ed^" Hk 1 --■««■■ * '.ijj^fc 


s\ '' 'v ,v 


4 : N. ": v • ('■■ 

'V-'- ; '- :: ■'■'■'"■■ ' ' 1 ■ "' 



William Pitt 



ENGLISH AMERICA AND HOW IT WAS HELD 299 

During all the time, from the defeat of Braddock to 
the year 1758, the Indians had been working havoc in 
the mountainous parts of Virginia, Maryland, and Penn- 
sylvania. Nothing had been done toward a second 
movement against Fort Duquesne. But now an army 
was made up of colonists from these three colonies and 
from the Carolinas to capture the fort, and the English 
general, Forbes, took command. Washington went 
with him and helped him greatly. The fort was taken, 
and its name was changed to Fort Pitt. The place is 
now the great city of Pittsburg. 

In 1759, the tireless Pitt, besides attending to the 
war in Europe, determined to take Quebec. He sent 
Johnson by the Niagara route to attack Montreal, and 
Wolfe to take Quebec by an army going up the St. Law- 
rence in ships. In the meantime, Amherst, after he had 
taken forts Crown Point and Ticonderoga, was to go 
north by Lake Champlain to help Wolfe. These, and the 
French forts at Niagara, were soon taken, but Amherst 
could not get to Quebec. 

157. Battle of Quebec. 

The great Montcalm defended Quebec; the great Wolfe 
attacked it. For months Wolfe tried to gain a point 
from which to attack, but could not succeed. Winter was 
coming, and Amherst had not come up. The city lay high 
above the river on bluffs. It had a strong fort to protect 
it, and unless the English could reach the plain at the top 



300 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

of the bluffs, there was not a chance to even fight. At 
last, a path was found up the bluffs beyond the city, 
and one night Wolfe moved the troops there by boats, 




General Wolfe 

and in darkness and silence, they climbed to the plain, 
and dragged some of their cannon after them. When day 
broke, such of the English army as had climbed the cliff 
was drawn up in line, less than a mile from the city. 



ENGLISH AMERICA AND HOW IT WAS HELD 301 




a portrait in the possession ol t Ik- present Atarquiu 

ranee. 



Hurrying forth to at- 
tack, before Wolfe could 
get the rest of his men 
up, Montcalm threw out 
his troops and gave bat- 
tle. The fight was furi- 
ous, and both generals 
lost their lives. But the 
English won. The city 
surrendered Sept. 18, 
1759. England now held 
Quebec, Ticonderoga, 
and Crown Point, the 
only passages to the Great J2£S£2!$£, vn 

Lakes, and Fort Dll- Marquis de Montcalm 

quesne, the only passages to the Ohio and Mississippi 
valleys. 

About a year later, a strong movement was made 
against Montreal, and that city surrendered. The French 
and Indian War in America was over. New France was 
a thing of the past. 

The great Seven Years' War went on for a short time 
in Europe, but was soon ended by treaty. Under the 
treaty, France gave to Spain all her holdings west of 
the Mississippi, on which stood the city of New Orleans, 
so that thus the Spanish controlled the great river. To 
England, went all the French territory east of the Missis- 
sippi, except a little island in the St. Lawrence, a fish- 



302 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

ing station. Thus the English had taken those parts of 
America settled by both the Dutch and the French. 
Florida, which had belonged to Spain, was given to Eng- 
land by that nation, on England's giving back to her 
Havana and the Philippine Islands. It was stated in the 
treaty that French should be the language of the people 
of Canada, and so it is, in the older part, to this day. 

North America now belonged to England and Spain; 
and thus, in 1763, began a new period for the English in 
America. 

The war, in Europe, left Frederick the Great victorious, 
and left England the most powerful nation in the world. 

158. Pontiac's War. 

After the French and Indian War was over, but before 
a treaty of peace was made, the English sent Major 
Rogers, with a party of his rangers, out into the western 
country, to take charge of the many French forts there. 
He carried written orders from the French, to those in 
command of those forts, to give them up. 

Rogers was met just before he reached Fort Detroit 
by a chief, who, in a haughty tone, asked him what his 
business was in that country which was his. Rogers 
told him that the French had lost in the war, and the 
English now owned all that had belonged to the French. 
He told the chief that he was on his way to take charge 
of Fort Detroit, and all other French forts in the western 
country. 



ENGLISH AMERICA AND HOW IT WAS HELD 303 

" Stay where you are until to-morrow," said the chief; 
" I am Pontiac, and this is my country. The French 
may have yielded it to the English, but the Indians 
have not. The French had no right to give it to the 
English." 

Rogers kept his camp until the next day. In the 
morning Pontiac came to him. " I have been the friend 
of the French/' said he, " but they are beaten. I will 
be the friend of the English, if they treat me well." Then 
the pipe of peace was smoked, and there was peace be- 
tween the English and the Indians, who until then had 
been their foes. 

Pontiac was crafty. He ruled the Indians in those 
parts, and he had been made much of by the French. 
Now that the French were not in power, he wanted the 
support of the English. He felt that with them to stand 
with him, he could still control the Indians, and be better 
off than he had been before. The French had made 
him many presents; he could see no reason why the 
English should not, and if they did, he would be content. 

As Rogers went on toward Detroit, he found that the 
Indians were prepared to fight him. But Pontiac calmed 
the savages, and there was no battle. 

Rogers and his small party went on, from fort to fort. 
He told the officers in charge that the war was over, 
and showed letters from the French, commanding them 
to turn the forts over to the English. Of course they 
obeyed, and the English took charge. The Indians 



304 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

could not understand this. That these many French, 
in these strong forts, should give way to a few English, 
Without even a fight, amazed them. They began to 
think that the English were such mighty fighters, that 
the French feared them and gave up without a struggle. 
So they formed a very high respect for the English. 
The Indians always admired the power that could 
conquer. 

Within a year, nearly all the French forts were manned 
by the English. There were but few English in them, 
for but few were needed. There was no war; the few 
soldiers in the forts were put there more for show than 
for strength. There was thought to be no danger from 
the Indians. 

But there was danger. All the Indians of that coun- 
try had been against the English in the war, and they 
could not easily become their friends when the war was 
over. That the French had stopped fighting was to 
them no reason for peace. Once an enemy, always 
an enemy, was the Indian way. 

The French had used the Indians well and had made 
them many presents, as well they might when they were 
getting them to do their fighting. The English, since 
they wanted no favors now from the Indians, gave them 
nothing, and also treated them badly. The French fur 
traders, who had been coming among them, had been 
careful not to offend them. But the Englishmen who 
now came were brutal ruffians, who abused them shame- 



ENGLISH AMERICA AND HOW IT WAS HELD 305 

fully. The French had let the Indians lounge about 
the forts, as much as they pleased. Now the English 
soldiers would not have them around. They struck 
them and kicked them and called them lazy dogs, and 
told them to be gone. " We will not bribe you with 
presents as the French did," said they. " We will whip 
you, if you do not behave." The Indians soon learned 
to hate the English more when at peace with them 
than they did when there was war. Even some of the 
Iroquois, those deadly foes of the French, were now 
angry with the English. 

The French had lost America, but there were still thou- 
sands of them in the land, and they hated the English 
who had conquered them. They were not slow in slyly 
setting the Indians on, against the English. It would 
delight them to see an Indian war. They lied to the 
red men, and made them think the English were going 
to destroy them. They told them that the great king 
of France was coming to drive the English out, and give 
the country back to them. They still sought the fur 
trade of the Indians, and they slandered the English 
that they might get the Indians to avoid them. That 
they might the better fight the English, they gave the 
savages guns, powder and ball, for furs. 

As early as 1761, the English began to hear that there 
was a plot among the Indians to make war. The rumors 
kept coming for a year, and for yet another. These 
rumors had some truth, for during 1762, a plot had 



306 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

been forming, for the savages to do what the tribes of 
Virginia and those of New England had tried to do, 
long years before. The plot was to spring upon the 
whites and kill them all by sudden attack. The Indians 
needed a leader, and one was at hand. That haughty 
chief, who had halted Rogers on his way to Detroit, 
had been disappointed. The English had had little 
regard for him, and his pride was wounded. Pontiac 
had been working, since 1762, to bring about a great 
union of all the tribes, from Canada to far down the 
Mississippi, to fight the English. He had gained many 
tribes to his purpose. 

The old chief was wiser than most Indians. As a rule, 
the Indians, when they felt like fighting, began without 
looking ahead to see where the war would end. Not 
so with Pontiac. He well knew the power of the English, 
and he knew that the Indians alone could not win in 
a war against them. He planned to begin a great war 
by the Indians, which should be crushing at the start, 
and then to have the French come in and help to com- 
pletely defeat the English. He thought that then, 
with America French, he and all Indians would be better 
off. The lies of the Canadian French had misled him. 

When we count the few means he had for his work, 
we must admire his skill. He made each of his run- 
ners learn, by heart, a speech which he had made, -so 
that they could repeat it to the chiefs they visited. Thus 
his words, as he spoke them, were carried over thousands 



ENGLISH AMERICA AND HOW IT WAS HELD 307 

of miles of country. His message was that, on a certain 
day in May, 1763, the Indians in all parts of the western 
country, without further word, were to fall on the forts 
and settlements that were nearest to them, and kill all 
the English. They were not, however, to hurt the French. 
He said he had had a vision, in which the Great Spirit 
promised to help the Indians. 

The time came, and the Indians all through the West, 
without a word of warning, fell upon the English. In 
a day, the whole West was in the horror of an Indian war. 
Pontiac himself with a large force tried to take Fort 
Detroit. But he failed. An Indian girl had told the com- 
mander of the fort what was coming, and the soldiers 
were ready. Otherwise, the fort would have been taken 
and all its people killed. For two months Pontiac 
vainly tried to take the fort, but he failed. 

Other forts were taken. Only four out of twelve 
escaped, one of which was Fort Pitt. But the English 
rallied, and soon began sending troops to beat off the sav- 
ages. In 1763, the treaty was made between the English 
and the French, and then the French government caused 
the Indians to see that there was no hope of French 
help coming to them, and the war came to an end. 

In 1766, a meeting of chiefs was held at Oswego, and 
a treaty was made between them and the English. 
Three years later, Pontiac was murdered by an In- 
dian near St. Louis. This was the last great war made 
by the Indians on the English. 



308 SHORT AMERICAN HISTORY 

SUMMARY 

1. The English, confined to the coast, began to see the value 

for settlement, of the land that lay beyond the mountain 
ranges, to the west. 

2. Troubles arising in Europe cause war between the French 

and English colonists in this country. These colonial 
wars were known as King William's War, Queen Anne's 
War, and King George's War. 

3. Name some of the industries of New England. 

4. The formation of the Ohio Company leads the English 

to attempt the building of forts, on ground claimed by 
French. This led to trouble between the French and the 
English colonists, that ended in the war known as the 
French and Indian War. 

5. General Braddock and Washington march against Fort 

Duquesne in 1755. The expedition ended in failure 
and in the death of Braddock. 

6. Fort William Henry, built by Sir William Johnson, at 

the head of Lake George, was taken by Montcalm in 
1757. 

7. The English were defeated at Fort Ticonderoga in 1758. 

A few days later Wolfe took Louisburg, the French 
fortress on Cape Breton Island. 

8. Fort Duquesne was taken from the French by General 

Forbes, in 1758. 

9. General Wolfe took Quebec in 1759, thus ending the war. 

Montreal was taken a year later. The French power 
in America was thus broken. 
10. Pontiac urged the Indians to make war on the English. 
Pontiac's War was ended by the treaty of 1766. 



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